The SHOT Telegram channel reported on Sunday that a case was opened on Thursday by the Russian Investigative Committee into Masha Gessen, a journalist from New York, who has been providing insights into the atrocities taking place during Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The Russian-American journalist, writer, translator and activist Maria Gessen is currently under investigation for allegedly “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” during the violence seen in Bucha in 2022. Gessen is a journalist and author, prominently featured in The New Yorker.

 Sources from SHOT and Baza news platforms posted that:

In September 2022, the journalist, writer and LGBT activist gave an interview in which [they] discredited Russian military personnel and commented on the events in Bucha. According to our information, on September 1, a criminal case was opened against Maria Gessen – the reason was that same interview.

On August 28, UN experts expressed grave concern about decisions by Russia’s Constitutional Court to dismiss challenges to the constitutionality of the country’s legislative provisions that criminalise all “public actions aimed at discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces. The experts previously engaged with Russia to express concerns about the adoption and implementation of the laws on discrediting the armed forces, stating, “The decision to deny constitutional protection of the right to freedom of expression constitutes a new low in Russia’s clampdown on the freedom of expression and the free flow of information.”

The Russian government amended the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These laws establish administrative and criminal punishments for “discrediting” or disseminating “unreliable information” about the Russian Armed Forces.