Russian parliament member Vadim Dengin has reportedly asked Russia's Attorney General and federal Investigative Committee to inspect Meduza (the website you're reading right now) for extremism.
According to the newspaper Izvestia, which in the past has published articles claiming that Meduza is headed for financial ruin, state inspectors could even press criminal charges against editors and block part of Meduza's website in Russia.
Izvestia claims that the request was filed in response to an article by special correspondent Daniil Turovsky, published by Meduza in mid-May. Turovsky spoke to Murad Atayev, an imam working at the Berlin mosque raided by the police this year. Atayev is one of the main Russian-speaking clerics of the "Islamic State," and German authorities consider his mosque to be a recruitment point and fundraising center for ISIL fighters.
Originally published in Russian, Turovsky's interview is also available translated into English here.
In his request to Russian police, Dengin says Turovsky's text “whitewashes” the Islamic State.
Writing on Facebook, Meduza's chief editor, Galina Timchenko, defended Turovsky's interview, arguing that it thoroughly captures how the Islamic State is a "catastrophe and threat to peace." Timchenko also points out that the interview has already led to legal consequences in Berlin, where police tried but failed to apprehend the imam, who fled Germany. "You can pretend that nothing is happening and try to muzzle those who speak about threats," Timchenko said, "or you can address the real problems."
“Daniil Turovsky should not have openly advertised the Islamic State. This kind of activity is punishable by law here, because it looks like a call for extremism and an advertisement for an organization that kills people, including his colleagues: journalists,” Dengin said.
This is not the first complaint to police about Meduza's interview with Atayev. Political consultant Vladislav Kalashnik recently filed a similar request, claiming parts of the interview justify the activities of the Islamic State, which Russia considers to be a terrorist organization.
Since adopting the ban on extremism in July 2002, Russian lawmakers have amended and expanded the law repeatedly, making it applicable to mass media. In February 2014, the so-called “Lugovoi Law” took effect, empowering Russia’s Attorney General to blacklist any website considered to disseminate “extremist” content. This kind of content can range from the promotion of terrorism to information that might encourage people to attend an unsanctioned peaceful demonstration.
To read our interview with Murad Atayev, see: ‘Islamic State is now a global territory’: ‘Meduza’ interviews a prominent ISIL imam based in Berlin