Moscow City Court rejects Meduza’s claim challenging ‘foreign agent’ designation
The Moscow City Court has dismissed Meduza’s claim challenging an earlier ruling that upheld its “foreign agent” status.
In June, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court refused to satisfy Meduza’s claim seeking to overturn the Russian Justice Ministry’s decision to designated our news outlet as a “foreign agent.” The Zamoskvoretsky Court ruled against Meduza despite the fact that the Justice Ministry was unable to provide documents evidencing foreign funding.
The Moscow City Court dismissed Meduza’s appeal against the decision on October 6, leaving the earlier ruling unchanged, said Meduza’s lawyer Sergey Badamshin.
The Russian Justice Ministry designated Meduza as a “foreign agent” media outlet on April 23, without providing any reasoning. On May 20, it became known that Meduza was blacklisted on the basis of a complaint filed by pro-Kremlin activist Alexander Ionov.
Since Meduza’s designation, the Russian Justice Ministry has handed down foreign agent status to more than 50 independent media outlets and journalists. Outlets designated as “foreign agents” now include Dozhd television, Mediazona, iStories, and The Insider, among others.
