ADC Memorial expresses solidarity with the independent journalists of the Barents Observer, who are being persecuted for their principled support of the rights of minorities, indigenous peoples of the North, and LGBTI+ people. Immediately after the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that there had been a violation of the right to freedom of expression (Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights), Russian authorities declared the publication an ‘undesirable organization.’ They explicitly linked this decision to the Barents Observer’s cooperation with Russian defenders of indigenous rights—some of whom prosecutors have listed as Russian citizens in the foreign agents register or on the list of terrorists and extremists—as well as to so-called ‘propaganda of non-traditional values,’ the term Russia uses to describe the protection of LGBTI+ rights.
The General Prosecutor’s office on Friday morning announced that the journalist-owned media based in northern Norway is added to Russia’s list of so-called ‘undesirable organisations.’
“A significant part of the newspaper’s materials have a clearly expressed anti-Russian character,” the Russian state authority writes. “The articles are aimed at stimulating protest motions among the population in north Russian regions, tighten anti-Russian sanctions [and] boosting NATO’s military presence by our borders,” the notice reads. Furthermore, the Barents Observer is “discrediting the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.” In addition, the newspaper’s journalists are propagating “untraditional values,” the General Prosecutor argues. The repressive Russian authority also underlines that the editorial staff of the Barents Observer includes Russian journalists in exile, among them people who are on Russia’s so-called ‘foreign agent’ list and the list of “extremists and terrorists.”
The announcement by the General Prosecutor is made only one day after the small Norwegian newspaper won a court case in the European Court of Human Rights against Russia’s censorship agency Roskomnadzor.
The case ‘Barents Observer vs Roskomnadzor’ started after the censorship authority in February 2019 blocked the newspaper on Russian territory.
The Barents Observer first appealed the repressive measure in a Russian court. After a loss, a new appeal was filed and subsequently rejected by the Moscow City Court in January 2020. In June 2021, the case was rejected by the Russian Supreme Court, whereupon the case was taken to Strasbourg.
The case has been supported by the Anti-Discrimination Center Memorial-Brussels. It has been run by lawyer Maksim Olenichev:
“In this case, the Russian authorities exercised censorship by demanding that the Barents Observer remove content they did not like under threat of blocking the media outlet’s website. Information about LGBT people and indigenous peoples, whose rights the Russian authorities have been particularly active in suppressing in recent years, was the trigger for the authorities in the case. Such information, as disseminated by the Barents Observer, is sensitive to the Russian authorities because of the state-sponsored policy of homophobia and restriction of indigenous peoples’ rights.
The court found that the Russian authorities had violated Article 10 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and found that The Independent Barents Observer’s right to freedom of expression had been violated. This means that such situations should not occur in a democratic state that respects the principles of human rights. This judgement has implications for all 46 member states of the Council of Europe: they must take into account the legal positions of the ECtHR, regardless of the state that was the defendant in the case,” Olenichev adds.
Editor of the Barents Observer Thomas Nilsen believes cases like the ‘Barents Observer vs Roskomnadzor’ are important for democracy and press freedom in a future Russia:
“The ruling in Strasbourg might not have any direct implications for us today, but we still think it is very important for a future Russia that one day might come out of the darkness, and again choses to follow the rule of law. In such a moment, journalistic freedom and a clear court decision that independent media like the Barents Observer can’t be blocked for writing the truth, will help guideline the future.”