Russian Court Labels Self-Exiled Journalist Nevzorov, Wife As 'Extremist Group'.

A court in St. Petersburg on July 2 labeled one of Russia's best-known TV journalists, Aleksandr Nevzorov, and his wife, Lidia, as an "extremist group" and ordered their property in the northwestern Leningrad region to be confiscated.

Nevzorov’s lawyer, Aleksei Pryanishnikov, said the court ruling orders the confiscation of the self-exiled journalist's property, car, and shares in a private business.

Nevzorov, who openly condemned Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and fled the country for a European Union member state in 2022, wrote on Telegram that Russian authorities had bargained with him for two months, trying to "persuade" him to change his position regarding Russia's aggression against Ukraine in exchange for "a good decision by the court."

"Liberty costs much. But none of its costs can be too high," Nevzorov wrote.

In February last year, a court in Moscow sentenced Nevzorov in absentia to eight years in prison on the charge of discrediting Russian armed forces.

The Investigative Committee launched a probe into Nevzorov in March 2022 over statements he made on Instagram and YouTube that criticized Russia's armed forces for a deadly assault on a nursing home in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and the alleged torture and killing of civilians in the town of Bucha.

In June 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree granting Ukrainian citizenship to Nevzorov and his wife "for transcendental services" to Ukraine.

In the days after launching his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, President Vladimir Putin signed into law legislation that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing "deliberately false information" about Russian military operations as part of the Kremlin's effort to control the narrative about its war in Ukraine.

The law envisages sentences of up to 10 years in prison for individuals convicted of an offense, while the penalty for the distribution of "deliberately false information" about the Russian military that leads to "serious consequences" is 15 years in prison.

It also makes it illegal "to make calls against the use of Russian troops to protect the interests of Russia" or "for discrediting such use" with a possible penalty of up to three years in prison. The same provision applies to calls for sanctions against Russia.

Nevzorov continues to sharply criticize Putin and his government over the war in Ukraine on his YouTube and Telegram channels.