MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th July, 2020) Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused on Monday to comment on the court verdict in the case of Pskov journalist�Svetlana Prokopyeva, who was accused of justifying terrorism.
Earlier in the day, a Pskov court fined Prokopyeva 500,000 rubles ($6,950) for comments made in public that were found as justifying terrorism in the wake of the 2018 bombing of the Arkhangelsk Federal Security Service building.
"Since your question is in one way or another related to the assessment of the judgment that was issued today, I will not answer it. This would be incorrect, because, you know, we never comment on court decisions. And we will keep refraining from that," Peskov told reporters when asked how journalists were supposed to act in a similar situation.
In November 2018, Prokopyeva spoke about the bombing incident during an appearance on the Pskov affiliate of the Ekho Moskvy radio station. The full text of the broadcast was later published by a local news feed. The broadcast and subsequent publication were later deleted at the request of Russia's media watchdog Roskomnadzor, and both outlets were fined 350,000 rubles.
The journalist denied guilt and said that the aim of the publication was to establish the events behind the bombing.
In October 2018, a 17-year-old detonated an explosive device inside a Federal Security Service building in the city of Arkhangelsk. The perpetrator died and three officers suffered injuries as a result of the blast.
