After searches in fake case, Union of Journalists stands up for Anna Dargan

Anna Dargan, a Stavropol journalist and blogger, whose home was searched within the case of spreading fakes about the situation with coronavirus in the Karachay-Cherkessian Republic (KChR), did not write any opposition and human rights texts, the Union of Journalists has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 15, law enforcers searched the home of Anna Dargan, who is a disabled person, and seized her journalistic equipment, which made her unable to work and pay out the mortgage. According to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), searches were conducted within the cases about the spread of fakes about the situation with COVID-19 in the KChR on the Instagram channels "Politika 09" and "Black Cube".

Ms Dargan asserts that she wrote no texts for the "Politika 09" Instagram channel, and addressed the topic of coronavirus only once, by calling, at the request of one of the editions she collaborated with, the "Rospotrebnadzor" (the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) to clarify the number of deaths from coronavirus.

The Stavropol regional branch of the Union of Russian Journalists (URJ) has launched a check, independent of the inquiry conducted by law enforcement agencies, Maria Korneeva, a representative of the URJ, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on June 26.

"We saw the appeal [Anna Dargan's video message] and decided to look into the situation by using our journalistic channels," Ms Korneeva has explained. "She did not write any oppositional and human rights texts," she has emphasized.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 27, 2020 at 05:35 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.