14:00, 30 May 2009

Woman-human rights defender from Volgograd asks refuge in Finland

Elena Maglevannaya, a journalist and human rights defender from Volgograd has applied for political asylum in Finland.

After participation in Helsinki in the Finnish-Russian Civil Forum, Elena Maglevannaya refused to come back home, as reported by Sergey Knyazkin, chairman of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights in the Republic of Tatarstan.

Earlier, the journalist was sued in Russia in the context of her publications, which stated that inmates-Chechens were tortured in colonies.

The suit against her gave details of her publications about a Chechen named Zubairaev. In March 2009, the journalist told the "Novye Izvestia" that she was sure that she was right and would defend by herself at the trial.

On May 14, the Kirov District Court of Volgograd found Ms Maglevannaya guilty of disseminating false information and punished her with a fine of 200,000 roubles, as Mr Knyazkin said to the "Echo Moskvy" Radio.