Police raid office of pro-Kremlin TV station

Police have raided the office of the television station LifeNews, according to the news agency’s website. Officers of the Investigative Committee are currently in the process of seizing documents and computer servers.

A statement on the company’s website says the search was triggered by a complaint regarding LifeNews reports about two crimes against minors where the news agency possibly revealed personal information that could be used to identify the underage victims. LifeNews denies the accusations, saying it blurred the faces of the victims in the reports cited in the complaint, and, “in full accordance with the law,” never mentioned their names. 

“Currently, in order to conduct a comprehensive, objective review, it’s necessary to study the video reports published on LifeNews’ website, and to speak to the staff who participated in publishing these reports online,” the investigators’ warrant says.

The complaint was allegedly brought by Olga Kostina’s human rights group, Soprotivlenie (“Resistance”), which works to defend the rights of victims and witnesses in criminal cases. Kostina is the wife of Konstantin Kostin, a former Kremlin official and the current chairman and CEO of the Russian think tank, the Civil Society Development Foundation.

In April 2013, Vladimir Putin signed a law banning mass media from publishing identifying information about minors who are the victims of crimes, prohibiting the mention of an underage victim’s name, birthdate, place of residence, or place of work or study, as well as any identifying photographs.