MEDIAZONA MEDIA WILL FILE A LAWSUIT FOR PUBLICATIONS ABOUT COVID-19 IN PRISONS

The Russian online media Mediazona intends to defend the right to publish an article about the spread of coronavirus infection in prison colony in court. The corresponding claim has already been filed with the Tagansky Court of Moscow, the General Prosecutor's Office and Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications are announced as defendants.

At the moment, it is known that on the eve of filing a claim, the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications demanded that Mediazona remove an article about COVID-19 infections in Russian prison colonies and pre-trial detention centers. The request was accompanied by the threat of blocking the website of the media.

The position of the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications boils down to the inadmissibility of disseminating information, which is unconfirmed.

The article deals with mass coronavirus cases in the institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service among employees and prisoners. The scandalous material was published on the media’s website in mid-November this year, at the moment most of the text contained in it has been removed, and the heading and first paragraphs have been changed at the request of the department.

However, the management of Mediazona does not agree with this state of affairs and considers the requirement of the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications to remove the text as a violation of the law, which is likely to be proven in court.

It is already known that lawyer Leonid Soloviev will represent the interests of the Internet media.