The country’s media watchdog, Rozkomnadzor, had accused it of failing to provide documents related to a 2006 ownership change. Speaking outside the court, editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his efforts to support critical news reporting in Russia, said the decision was “a political job, without the slightest legal basis”. He said the newspaper would appeal. In a statement, Novaya Gazeta said the decision by Moscow’s Basmanny District Court, which often handles politically charged cases, “killed the newspaper, stole 30 years of life from its employees and deprived readers of their right to information.” The United Nations human rights office called the decision “another blow to the independence of the Russian media” and called on Moscow to protect media freedom. Novaya Gazeta has been a fixture on Russia’s media scene since it was founded in 1993 with money from the late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s Nobel Peace Prize. It had carved out a niche as Russia’s leading investigative news outlet, even as media freedoms gradually eroded. Muratov carries a portrait of the late Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, outside the House of Unions after the former president’s memorial service in Moscow on Saturday. (Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters) In March, it suspended its operations in Russia after being warned about violating new laws imposing strict censorship on coverage of the conflict in Ukraine. Since then, staff have created a new online outlet in Europe, versions of which have also been blocked in Russia. Muratov himself remains in Russia and on Saturday led the funeral procession for Gorbachev, his financial backer and friend.
