Nikolai Rybakov’s Facebook page, 29.08.2023

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov visited the trial of Mikhail Afanasyev, a member of Yabloko and a journalist, in Abakan, Khakassia, so that to support Afanasyev who made his final statement in court today. The public prosecutor asked for six years in prison for Mikhail Afanasyev.

Afanasyev had been kept in a pre-trial detention centre for the second year already on the charges of spreading “fake news” about the army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He is accused of publishing an article in the Novy Focus online media about the refusal of riot police from Khakassia to go to Ukraine a month and a half after the start of the special military operation. 

It was the word of a real journalist, completely devoted to his work and his profession. It was the word of a patriot of the country, a loving father, and a citizen. Mikhail proved that he could not remain silent and could not help but publish the article for which he is being tried now (for “fakes”). His silence would have been a crime – civil, professional, and human.

“I care about everything in Khakassia, because I am a journalist, and every person is my neighbour. I did not come to journalism to avert my eyes from injustice and ulcers on the body of society.

I cannot just sit here and tell my children about loyalty to the ideals of humanism and ignore at the same time that a father who has lost his family is looking for justice, that the hero of the uprising has been forgotten, or that arbitrariness is being created against a riot policeman from my city.

And I don’t need power or money. I just want to be close to those humiliated and offended, defending their dignity with my word, with my publications and together with them seeking justice, pushing the authorities and people to a dialogue on how we can deal with the ulcers of our society together.

This is what makes me a man and a journalist, and this is why I care about any injustice in Khakassian society.”

The full version of the text is here

I highly recommend to read the full version.

Source