Dmitry Muratov and Nikolai Rybakov on the decision of the Moscow City Court to revoke the license from Novaya Gazeta

Press Release, 07.02.2023

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The Moscow City Court, on absurd grounds, deprived Novaya Gazeta and Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta of media registration certificates. The judge dismissed the editorial board’s complaint against the decision of the Basmanny Court of Moscow, which took away licenses from the media back in September 2022. The decisions came into effect today, two months before the 30th anniversary of the newspaper.

Dmitry Muratov, the Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta, Nobel Prize winner and a member of the Yabloko party, addressed the court in his speech:

“According to Article 29 of the Constitution, everyone has the right to collect and disseminate information, freedom of the media is guaranteed. By canceling our registration, you cancel Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Do not support this shame – it will be very embarrassing,” he stressed.

However, the judge considered that Roskomnadzor’s [Russian media and communications watchdog] arguments to revoke the license of two media outlets at once were more convincing. Thus, the formal reason for the revocation of the license from the print newspaper Novaya Gazeta was the failure of the editorial board to provide Roskomnadzor with the paper’s bylaws that was slightly updated in 2006. In the case of the Novaya Rasskazh-Gazeta magazine, which had been published twice a month since mid-2022, Roskomnadzor insisted that it was not published at all.

The Chairman of the Yabloko party, Nikolay Rybakov, who attended this hearing in the Moscow City Court on 7 February, expressed words of support for the editorial staff:

“For almost 30 years, the journalists of Novaya Gazeta have been telling the uncomfortable and frankly painful truth about what was happening in Russia, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. I sincerely wish strength to the entire team of the Novaya Gazeta. I am certain that they will be able to find a way to continue doing their job,” Rybakov said.

After the announcement of the decision of the Moscow City Court, Dmitry Muratov commented to journalists  the decision of the court to revoke the licence from Novaya Gazeta:

“The court serves a handful of persons who leave the people alone with propaganda.”

Photo by Tatiana Britskaya/Novaya Gazeta

It should be noted that the first issue of Novaya Gazeta was published on 1 April, 1993. The media is famous for its investigative journalism and human rights focus. The newspaper and its journalists have repeatedly become laureates of professional, public and state awards. At least five of the Novaya Gazeta journalists were killed when in the line of their duty. In 2021, Dmitry Muratov, the Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “for the efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”.