{"id":41094,"date":"2024-07-22T11:05:15","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T08:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnoj-niku-novak\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T18:29:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T15:29:53","slug":"my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnoj-niku-novak","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/en\/news\/my-schitaem-politzaklyuchyonnoj-niku-novak\/","title":{"rendered":"Nika Novak is a political prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><em>A journalist from the Zabaykalsky Krai has been charged with collusion with a foreign organisation<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>The \u2018Political Prisoners.<\/strong> <strong>Memorial\u2019 human rights project, in accordance with<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/news\/5480\/\"><strong> international standards<\/strong><\/a><strong>, considers Nika Novak a political prisoner.<\/strong> <strong>She is being prosecuted on a charge of collusion with a foreign organisation, most likely for her work as a journalist.<\/strong> <strong>Novak\u2019s prosecution violates her rights to freedom of expression and fair trial.<\/strong> <strong>We demand that Nika Novak be released immediately from detention and that all criminal charges against her be dropped.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/novak-eng.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-26288\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are the charges against Nika Novak?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nika Novak, 32, is a journalist from Chita in Zabaykalsky Krai. Since 2013 she has worked for various Chita media outlets, and in 2014-2015, she worked for one of the newspapers in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People\u2019s Republic in the east of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judging by Novak\u2019s Facebook posts, she held anti-Ukrainian views and supported separatism in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 25 December 2023, Novak was remanded in custody on a charge of collusion with a foreign organisation (Article 275.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). The hearing in her case was held in camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have no other information about the charge against Novak, but according to media reports, before she was remanded in custody Novak also worked for the publication <em>Sibir.Realii<\/em> (or <em>Siberia<\/em>.<em>Realities<\/em> which is a regional news outlet of <em>RFE<\/em>\/<em>RL&#8217;s<\/em> Russian Service), which had been designated a \u2018foreign agent\u2019 in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If convicted, Nika Novak faces up to eight years\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why do we consider Nika Novak a political prisoner?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regardless of the charges against Nika Novak, we believe there are significant legal defects in the article of the Russian Criminal Code on collusion with an international or foreign organisation. For example, a person cannot know in advance which contacts with representatives of international or foreign organisations are lawful and which are prohibited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the prosecution of the journalist is related to work with <em>Sibir.Realii<\/em>, then this violates her right to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The holding of court hearings on the selection of pre-trial conditions in camera, and the ban on publishing court decisions, contradict the principle of transparency of justice. This allows the courts to avoid public scrutiny, in violation of a defendant\u2019s right to fair trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A detailed description of Nika Novak\u2019s case and of our position is available on our <a href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/figurant\/novak-nika-aleksandrovna\/\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Recognition of an individual as a political prisoner does not imply the \u2018Political Prisoners. Memorial\u2019 human rights project agrees with, or approves, their views, statements, or actions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How can you help?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You<a href=\"https:\/\/memopzk.org\/donate-to-support-political-prisoners\/\"> can donate<\/a> to support all political prisoners in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24211,"template":"","class_list":["post-41094","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-moscow","news-type-nashi-novosti-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Nika Novak is a political prisoner - Political prisoners support. 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