![]() As Oliver Carroll reported, Svetova told journalists it was not the first time authorities had searched her family home: "The previous occasion, she said, was in early 1985, when the Soviet police state was at its peak. They arrested her father that day. 'Just imagine: Thirty years pass, and once again you get the knock on your door,' Svetova said. 'When they were looking through the apartment, they even found the original search protocol and recognized the colleagues who had signed it — I’d thought they were long dead.' " Sergei Nikitin, director of Amnesty International Russia, said the search of Zoya Svetova’s flat was "deeply alarming." He said: "This search seems like a blatant attempt by the authorities to interfere with her legitimate work as a journalist and perhaps a warning for her and others of the risks of human rights work and independent journalism in Russia.” Front Line Defenders called the search "an act of intimidation in retaliation to her coverage of human rights violations in the Russian Federation." The organization urged the Russian authorities to immediately cease all further harassment of Zoya Svetova and return all items confiscated during the search. More generally, the organization urged the Russian authorities to "cease targeting all human rights defenders in the Russian Federation and guarantee in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment." Photo of Zoya Svetova: Front Line Defenders Sources: 'Russian Police Search Home Of Prominent Russian Journalist, Activist.' RFE/RL, 28 February 2017'Russia: "Deeply alarming" raid targets human rights activist and journalist Zoya Svetova,' Amnesty International, 28 February 2017'Authorities search Zoya Svetova's apartment,' Front Line Defenders, 2 March 2017 |
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