Above the law: Writing about torture, reposting support for Meduza, and rebalancing his own bank accounts — this landed a Novosibirsk journalist on Russia’s ‘foreign agent’ list

In mid-July 2021, the Russian Attorney General's Office declared the investigative news outlet Proekt an "undesirable organization," effectively outlawing the publication. That same day, the Justice Ministry designated five Proekt journalists (including editor-in-chief Roman Badannin) as "foreign agents." In the weeks that followed, state officials added nearly all of Proekt's former reporters to the "foreign agents" registry, even designating some journalists who left the project long before its "undesirable" status. One of these people was Pyotr Manyakhin, a journalist in Novosibirsk, who is now challenging the Justice Ministry's decision in court. The agency has now shared its objections to this lawsuit. Meduza breaks down the authorities' peculiar logic. Original Article: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2021/11/01/above-the-law