CPJ concerned by Russia’s arrest in absentia of exiled journalist

Berlin, September 19, 2024—The Basmanny District Court in Moscow issued an arrest warrant in absentia for journalist Armen Aramyan on Wednesday, September 18, on charges of justifying terrorism online and spreading false information about the Russian army in unspecified publications.

Aramyan, the co-founder of the student publication DOXA, is currently in exile alongside three DOXA editors — Alla Gutnikova, Natalia Tyshkevich, and Vladimir Metelkin — after authorities convicted them in April 2022 on charges of involving minors in illegal protests that same year. The court also banned them from administering websites for three years. 

“Russian authorities’ persecution of journalists in exile through arrest warrants in absentia highlights their escalating repression of those who have had to flee the country following a crackdown on their reporting and journalism,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “The authorities must immediately stop the prosecution of DOXA co-founder Armen Aramyan, and the transnational repressions aimed at silencing exiled Russian journalists.”  

Russian authorities placed Aramyan on the federal wanted list in August 2023 after he left the country in April 2022.

The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation declared DOXA an “undesirable” organization in January 2024. 

Organizations that receive the “undesirable” classification are banned from operating in Russia or distributing their content, and anyone who participates in them faces up to six years in prison and administrative fines.

CPJ emailed the Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee for comment on Aramyan’s arrest in absentia but did not immediately receive a reply.