Moscow student jailed after election protest gets job offers from two of the city’s top news sources

Yegor Zhukov was one of the first suspects to be named in what Russian journalists have dubbed “the Moscow case,” the felony rioting proceedings Moscow investigators have used to crank up the legal pressure against the city’s election protesters. Now, Zhukov may be in jail, but the 21-year-old Higher School of Economics student also has two very shiny job offers waiting for him on the outside. Novaya Gazeta board director Dmitry Muratov and Ekho Moskvy Editor-in-Chief Alexey Venediktov have both sent letters to the court responsible for Zhukov’s case guaranteeing him positions at their publications upon his release.

Zhukov was jailed on August 2 on accusations of participating in “mass riots.” He denies the charges against him. The case against Zhukov is built around a video recording that supposedly shows him directing other protesters by “making gestures to the right.” Alexey Venediktov has argued that the video shows Zhukov directing protesters away from a road. Both Venediktov and Muratov have vouched for Zhukov’s character on the record in court.

The Moscow student’s arrest has become a rallying point for many opposition supporters in Moscow. After local residents began picketing for his release on August 5, several of them were arrested as well.