A Moscow court withdrew the license of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta

The court declared invalid the registration of the printed version of the media outlet directed by the journalist Dmitri Murátov, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2021

A Russian court on Monday revoked the license to broadcast the print edition of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, a pillar of investigative journalism in Russia, forced to suspend its publication in March due to the repression of critics of the conflict in Ukraine.

“The Moscow Basmanny court recognized as invalid the registration certificate (as a medium) of the paper version of Novaya Gazeta,” the newspaper, whose editor-in-chief, Dmitri Muratov, was one of the two Nobel Prize winners, said on Telegram. of Peace in 2021.

The announcement comes just after the death and funeral of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, who died last week at the age of 91 and was precisely a historic supporter of Novaya Gazeta. Muratov himself led the funeral procession for the late leader on Saturday.

The Basmanny court, which confirmed the decision in a statement, thus responded to a complaint filed in late July by the Russian press regulator, Roskomnadzor.

The regulator argued that the newspaper had not transmitted, according to the regulations in force, “the statutes of the newsroom” at the time of registering again with the administration in 2006.

In two other different complaints, also filed in July, Rozkomnadzor also asked to cancel the authorizations of the digital edition and of a new Novaya Gazeta magazine. These demands will be examined by the Russian justice during the month of September.

At the end of March, Novaya Gazeta, which had been critically covering the conflict in Ukraine, decided to suspend publication online and in print for fear of reprisals in Russia. So, in fact, the newspaper had been out of print for months.

The authorities also accuse him of having broken the law by not always and clearly identifying in his articles the organizations and individuals designated as “foreign agents” and cited in the newspaper.

Novaya Gazeta was founded in 1993 and is known for its in-depth investigations into the corruption of Russian elites and serious human rights violations, particularly in Chechnya. Since its creation, six of its journalists have been killed.