The editor-in-chief of Otkrytaya Gazeta was detained in the Stavropol Territory. The circulation of the publication was confiscated three times in a month.

In the Stavropol Territory, law enforcement officers detained 75-year-old Lyudmila Leontyeva, editor-in-chief of the local newspaper Otkrytaya Gazeta. The police stopped the journalist’s car at the entrance to Stavropol. They also seized the newspaper’s circulation from the car, informs OVD-Info citing Olga Vasilyeva, a correspondent for the Glasnost Defense Foundation.

After the arrest, Leontyeva stopped communicating.

On October 31, the founder and owner of Otkrytaya Gazeta, Vladislav Leontyev, was detained in the Stavropol Territory for allegedly disobeying the demands of the security forces and behaving inadequately. The police seized the 8,000th print run of the newspaper from his car. Then the Krasnogvardeisky District Court arrested him for 15 days under the article on resisting a police officer (19.3 of the Administrative Code). Later, the regional court reduced the arrest to 11 days, writes “New Newspaper”.

According to Leontyeva, on the weekend of October 30-31, the edition was confiscated twice. On the 30th, the police intercepted a courier who was carrying the newspaper’s circulation from Rostov-on-Don, where it was printed. And on October 31, Vladislav Leontyev was detained.

The deputy head of the police department, in a conversation with Lyudmila Leontyeva, said with a grin: “We will hold the circulation for a month, check it and return it with an apology.”

November 16, to the editorial office of Otkrytaya Gazeta came employees of the Oktyabrskiy ROVD. The security forces seized editorial office equipment, referring to the administrative protocol drawn up under Part 2 of Art. 13.15 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (abuse of freedom of the media). The journalists were accused of using in old publications the names of organizations banned in the Russian Federation (for example, “Right Sector”). These publications were published long before the court recognized such organizations as extremist or terrorist. In addition, the limitation period for prosecution under Art. 13.15 Administrative Code is only 1 year, it has already expired. Journalists believe that the actions of the security forces have one goal – to paralyze the work of the editorial office.

The editor-in-chief of the publication noted that the newspaper talks about the “lawlessness of the siloviki”, corruption and the “raider seizure” of the collective farm “Russia” in the village of Grigoropolisskaya. The newspaper confiscated for the first time, in particular, contained material from the Moscow press conference of the collective farm lawyers.

Lyudmila Leontyeva is a laureate and winner of many professional awards.