Viktor Shenderovich fled Russia for fear of persecution by the authorities

Russian satirist and publicist Viktor Shenderovich said that he decided to leave Russia due to the threat of prosecution in a libel case. An application with a request to initiate a criminal case against Shenderovich was recently submitted to the Moscow police by the Concord company of Yevgeny Prigozhin, reports BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

Prigozhin is a businessman close to Vladimir Putin, his name is associated with the private military company Wagner and the expansion of Russian activity in Africa. At the same time, the businessman himself denies connections with the Wagnerites.

Shenderovich explained in Facebook, which fears not so much possible imprisonment (according to Russian law, the term under this article can be up to five years), as pre-trial measures.

“But I will probably refrain from personal participation in the criminal case that is facing me based on the statement of the “Kremlin chef” Prigozhin, and just out of common sense. There is no dispute here that requires a new judicial instance, just as there has been no court here (for a long time). The “victim” openly declared his desire to shut my mouth, and at the same time to intimidate everyone who is not satisfied with the bloody, thieving and unpunished trail trailing behind his name. Realizing that journalists could not be stopped by fines, the “Kremlin chef” turned to blackmail with criminal charges,” writes Shenderovich.

“For me, the dramatic change in the landscape here is not so much in the hypothetical deadline (I would have at least some time left before it), but in the pre-trial measures. Alas, Art. 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for restriction of freedom during the investigation, and for some reason I have no particular reason to doubt that this norm can be applied,” he adds.

“I decided to wait outside,” he continues. “Perhaps someone will be upset by my reluctance to prove with the rest of my life the axiom of Putin’s justice - in my opinion, this matter has long been empty and unnecessary.”

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He explains the reasons for his departure as follows: “As long as this Prigozhin is here as an elite, I will therefore continue to serve as a foreign agent - outside my homeland, but without a muzzle. This way it will be more pleasant for me, and it will be more fun for you.”

“Of course, leaving is exactly what the Kremlin has been hinting at me for twenty years on end with endless and demonstrative criminality against me. Home invasion, surveillance, telephone hooliganism, slander, invasion of privacy, direct threats to life itself... I did not receive an answer to any of my statements to the police: this is how Putin’s Russia pointed out my place at the domestic bucket. Now, without any metaphors, we are talking about the prospect of imprisonment. However, being forced to leave your homeland is also deprivation of liberty, of course,” he says.

At the same time, Shenderovich promises to remain on the air of Ekho Moskvy, as well as the Dozhd television company and RTVI.

The writer had plans.

“I had a lot of different things planned for the beginning of 2022: a literary evening in Moscow, and filming a new YouTube project in St. Petersburg, and “Amateur Readings” there... Alas. Let’s not continue to make God laugh with our plans - maybe someday all this will happen, but apparently not before law enforcement agencies again begin to catch E.V. Prigozhin, born in 1961, previously convicted (one of the two of us clearly poses a danger to society),” he writes on Facebook.

The writer does not comment on where he went, but it is known that Viktor Shenderovich received Israeli citizenship.

Prigozhin accuses Shenderovich of slander because of his expressions in the “Minority Opinion” program broadcast on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

At the end of December last year, the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg recovered $1300 from Shenderovich and about $13 from Ekho Moskvy according to Prigozhin’s claim. The radio station's editor-in-chief, Alexei Venediktov, told RBC that Echo intends to appeal this decision as unlawful.

On December 30, Prigozhin’s company Concord announced on its Telegram channel that it had filed a statement to initiate a criminal case against Shenderovich under an article of libel.

“Please note that all journalists who allow themselves to make rude, cynical and unreliable statements towards Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin will be held not only financially liable, but also criminally liable,” write Concord’s lawyers.

Shenderovich does not complain, but considers his situation not the worst option.

“Complaining in my position is stupid: I’m not the first and I won’t be the last, not to mention the fate of Nemtsov, the fates of Mokhnatkin, Navalny, Dmitriev, and hundreds of other political prisoners. Not to mention what Russia is doing in the wars and interventions it has unleashed... For all my offenses against the administration of the village of Gadyukino, they just labeled me a shameful brand and finally kicked me out, as good as possible, with the threat of imprisonment - dear, kind, tolerant people,” he writes.

European sanctions against Prigozhin

On the same day that this statement was made public, the Russian Ministry of Justice included Shenderovich in the register of mass media - “foreign agents”.

Along with him on the list are gallerist Marat Gelman, editor-in-chief of the publication “Kholod” Taisiya Bekbulatova, Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Veronika Nikulshina, as well as Yaroslavl public figure Andrei Alekseev and journalists Ivan Belyaev and Elena Vladykina.

On December 13, the European Union imposed sanctions against four legal entities and eight individuals who, according to Brussels, are associated with the Wagner Group. Western countries believe the Kremlin is using this mercenary group, which has close financial ties to Prigozhin, as leverage in international conflicts.

A year ago, Brussels also imposed personal sanctions against Prigozhin, who is often called “Putin’s chef” in the press for his close ties to the Kremlin and friendship with the president.

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Yevgeny Prigozhin has repeatedly emphasized that he has no connections with Wagner. The Kremlin says mercenary activity is prohibited by Russian law and denies any links to the Wagner Group.

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