Aksana Panova is a Russian journalist, most known for leading the news sites
Ura.ru and . She also served as campaign manager for
Yevgeny Roizman
Yevgeny Vadimovich Roizman (Russian: Евге́ний Вади́мович Ро́йзман; born 14 September 1962) is a Russian opposition politician who served as the mayor of Yekaterinburg from 2013 to 2018. He campaigned against corrupt po ...
's successful opposition campaign for Mayor of Yekaterinburg in 2013.
Biography
Ura.ru
Panova launched
Ura.ru as an independent news website in 2006.
2012-14 trial
In 2006 and 2007, she led an investigation into businessman
Konstantin Kremko for Ura.ru. In 2012, Kremko accused her of having extorted a bribe out of him.
In July 2013, she pleaded guilty to tax evasion, stating that she had withdrawn $400 000 from Ura.ru's bank accounts and transferred them to accounts set up for non-existent companies with the goal of paying staff salaries without having to pay welfare taxes. In December 2013, the court dismissed one of the charges against her.
In 2014, the court found her guilty of extortion, handing down a two-year suspended sentence, including a 400 000 rubles fine and being banned from conducting journalism for two years.
The trial was met with widespread controversy among journalists and human rights groups, with several saying that it represented a crackdown on investigative journalism in Russia.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media functions as a watchdog on media developments in all 57 participating member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The representative provides early warning on viol ...
Dunja Mijatović
Dunja Mijatović ( sr-cyr, Дуња Мијатовић; born 8 September 1964) is a Bosnian human rights expert and activist, serving as the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. She was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Cou ...
stated that the trial "marks a worrying trend for free media in Russia and can stifle critical speech in the country."
Znak.com
Panova founded
Znak.com in December 2012.
Following the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, Znak.com announced that it would be suspending its operations "due to a large number of restrictions that have recently been imposed on the work of media outlets in Russia."
See also
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Dmitry Kolezev
Dmitry Evgenievich Kolezev (russian: link=no, Дмитрий Евгеньевич Колезев) is a Russian journalist from the region called Urals who is known internationally for working at independent online mass media, dedicated primaril ...
*
Media freedom in Russia
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panova, Aksana
21st-century Russian journalists
Russian women journalists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)