A Russian court ordered the in absentia arrest of the journalist of the investigative portal Bellingcat, Christo Grozev, who conducted a number of investigations and was one of the creators of a documentary film about the role of the Russian secret services in the attempt to poison the dissident Alexei Navalny.
A Moscow court ordered the arrest of a journalist from the investigative portal Bellingcat in absentia on Friday, Sofia public radio reported. The warrant was issued on the accusation of illegally crossing the border of the Russian Federation. If Grozew were arrested, he would face imprisonment for up to two years.
In December last year, a warrant was issued for the journalist. It was reported that he was under investigation for spreading false news about the Russian army.
He publicized the cases of Sergei Skripal and Alexei Navalny
The 53-year-old Grozev publicized, among others, the case of the poisoning of a Russian agent in 2018 on the Bellingcat portal Sergei Skripal and his daughters in the UK and in 2020 criticism of the Kremlin Alexei Navalny.
In addition, the website investigated case of shooting down in 2014 over Ukraine Malaysian airliner and publicized war crimes Russia in Ukraine. Bellingcat also reported an attempt by the Russian special services to poison a Bulgarian businessman in the arms industry, Emilian Gerrew.
The portal specializes in fact-checking and white intelligence, i.e. searching for and verifying news based on open sources. In 2019, Grozew won the European Press Prize Investigative Reporting Award.
Main photo source: MAXIM SHIPENKOV/PAP/EPA