Russian Court rejects Lutfiye Zudieva’s appeal against the refusal to remove her from the «foreign agents» list

The Moscow District Court in Russia rejected the appeal by Crimean human rights defender and journalist Lutfiye Zudieva against the previous Zamoskvoretsky Court resolution refusing to declare her designation as a «foreign agent» illegal and to remove her from the relevant registry.

The hearing took place on 19 December. Zudieva participated remotely from Crimea via video conference. The journalist and her defence lawyer in Moscow tried to prove that working for the media and defending human rights cannot be considered «political activity», which was the grounds for assigning her this status. A cassation appeal is pending.

Here are the details from Graty. 

«We insisted that a journalist is not a politician»

Lutfiye Zudieva appealed against the resolution of the Zamoskvoretsky Court, which refused to declare her «foreign agent» status in Russia illegal and to remove her from the relevant list. 

A Moscow court has upheld the “foreign agent” status for the Crimean journalist and human rights activist Lutfiye Zudieva

In her appeal, Zudieva referred to the incorrect determination of the circumstances relevant to the case; the lack of evidence for these circumstances established by the first instance court; the inconsistency of the first instance court’s conclusions with the circumstances of the case; and the violation and incorrect application of the norms of Russian substantive and procedural law. 

«The grounds for designating someone a foreign agent may include gathering information about military facilities in the Russian Federation, engaging in political activities, and receiving funding from abroad. Today, we insisted that a journalist is not a politician. Journalists bring up unpleasant and painful topics, but it is impossible to change reality without discussing it openly with law enforcement, the authorities, and society. This is what I tried to convey to the court», — says Lutfie Zudieva.

According to the journalist, almost all of the screenshots of her articles used by the Russian Ministry of Justice to prove her engagement in political activities for the benefit of foreign states as pretext for her «foreign agent» designation were taken from articles about administrative and criminal trials against Crimean residents, while her work was based on unclassified open source information, available to journalists and researchers.

Presenting her position in court, Zudieva emphasised that she had been involved in court journalism for several years, acting openly to the public and being guided by the concept of public interest, as all journalists are.

«The protection of human rights is one of the main public interests. Information about the actions of law enforcement agencies, including searches and arrests, especially when those affect an entire ethnic or religious group, is of great public importance. This is due to the need for society to monitor compliance with the civil rights and freedoms guaranteed by both national and international law», — she said.

The journalist also rejected other reasons given by the Ministry of Justice for adding her to the list of «foreign agents»: namely, her interviews to international media and allegedly being a member of the international human rights organisation Front Line Defenders. 

Lutfiye Zudieva denied the latter and called on the court to contact the organisation so that its representatives could clarify the situation. As for the former, Zudieva noted that giving interviews was not prohibited by the Russian law. 

Representatives of the Russian Ministry of Justice at the hearing repeated their previous points from the case materials, suggesting that Zudieva’s claim be dismissed.

The court ignored the journalist’s arguments and rejected the appeal. The full text of the decision with its justification is not yet available. However, Lutfiye Zudieva has already announced her intention to appeal it in the Second Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.

The wave of persecution against opinion leaders in Crimea

Lately, there has been a wave of repression against civil society in Crimea. On 11 December in Simferopol, officials of the Interior Ministry’s Centre for Countering Extremism searched two offices of lawyers from the Crimean Central Bar Association and seized documents containing information protected by attorney-client privilege.

The association includes seven lawyers, some of whom have been defending Crimean residents in cases of political persecution for many years. Among them are Emil Kurbedinov and Edem Semedlyaev.

Another alarming trend is the start of persecution of women in Crimea under «terrorism charges». On 15 October, Russian security forces in Crimea detained four Crimean Tatars and accused them of participating in the activities of the Islamic political party Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned as a terrorist organization in Russia, but operates freely in Ukraine and most European countries. The detainees are still in custody.

Lutfiye Zudieva, who has been covering the case, has repeatedly received «warnings against law violation» at her home. This may be one of the tools used to put pressure on civil society in Crimea, as several other activists have also received the same warnings.

«A tool to remind one that “the authorities” are there». Russian security forces have issued another «warning» to Lutfiye Zudieva, journalist and human rights defender from Crimea

Also on 15 September, the Dzhankoy District Court of Crimea fined the journalist for allegedly violating Russian administrative legislation on «foreign agents»: namely, for intending to engage in «foreign agent» activities and failing to notify the authorities to be included in the relevant list. Zudieva challenged this decision, but lost her appeal.

In addition to legal pressure, attempts are being made to influence her through discrediting publications and threats in pro-Russian social media groups, according to the journalist.