Anokhina refused to recognize social media posts as a crime.

Dagestani journalist Svetlana Anokhina, who lives abroad, admitted to writing the posts that formed the basis for the verdict in the army fake news case, but she doesn't consider them a crime.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," a court in Makhachkala found journalist and human rights activist Svetlana Anokhina, who lives abroad, guilty of spreading fake news about the army and sentenced her in absentia to five years in prison. Anokhina was previously arrested in absentia in Dagestan; a 37-year-old native of the republic is also facing a similar case. Svetlana Anokhina, a journalist and human rights activist who fled Dagestan due to threats, learned about a criminal case under the article on public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Russian armed forces from the media in April 2023. In September 2024, Anokhina reported that security forces visited her 95-year-old mother to take a saliva sample. Anokhina called these actions intimidation of the elderly woman. "What does my mother and her saliva have to do with this? What are you going to compare it to? With my traces on the internet?" she demanded.

Svetlana Anokhina told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that she hasn't yet seen the reasoning behind the verdict, but while she admits to writing the posts, she refuses to plead guilty.

"Yes, I wrote these posts, but I don't consider it a crime. That is, I agree that I wrote them, and I don't agree that it should be punished in any way," she said.

She hasn't yet decided whether to appeal the verdict. "I haven't spoken to my lawyer about the appeal yet, so I can't say anything more specific," Anokhina noted.

Gadzhimurad Sagitov, a member of the Board of the Dagestan Regional Branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia, said that he refused to give any personal assessments of her activities during the investigation and trial.

"I wouldn't want to give any assessments at all or provide any information about her. I stated this in court and during questioning during the investigation, when I was forced to testify as her former employer," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to the journalist, the trial was conducted objectively.

"There was an adversarial nature, all parties were represented, and the judge was very polite. There was no pressure, and the defense had an excellent opportunity to request and demand whatever they deemed necessary. I can't comment on the other details of this trial. But on the day I testified, everything was quite transparent; there was no sense of bias," Sagitov explained.

Svetlana Anokhina reported that the case against her included testimony from Gadzhimurad Sagitov, the former editor-in-chief of the Novoye Delo publication. Anokhina, who previously worked for the publication, noted that she last saw Sagitov in 2019, Mediazona previously reported*.

Svetlana Anokhina is a journalist and human rights activist. For the past several years, she has published for Daptar, a publication that actively writes about women's rights and crimes against them in the Caucasus. She is the founder of the Marem crisis center, which provides assistance to women in difficult situations.