Journalist Nika Novak is serving a four-year prison sentence after being convicted on November 26, 2024, on charges of “confidential cooperation with a foreign organization.” She was detained by Russian authorities in December 2023.
Novak, a journalist from the far-eastern city of Chita, is the former editor-in-chief of local outlet ChitaMedia and former editor-in-chief of the local news portal Zab.ru. Since 2022, she was a freelance correspondent for the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which Russia banned as undesirable in February 2024.
Novak was detained on December 25, 2023, in Moscow. Her detention was extended several times during closed-door hearings until the sentencing.
The regional branch of Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Novak of cooperating with a foreign media outlet, alleging that she was paid to help prepare inaccurate materials discrediting the Russian army and state authorities.
Novak is the first journalist to be sentenced to prison under the law against “confidential cooperation with a foreign state or organization,” according to investigative news outlet Agentstvo. The law, adopted in July 2022, allows a prison sentence of up to eight years in jail, under Article 275.1 of Russia’s criminal code.
She plans to appeal her sentence, a source close to her case told CPJ on condition of anonymity.
As of November 2024, Novak’s physical and psychological state was “more or less normal” the source told CPJ.
In late 2024, CPJ emailed the branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee in Zabaykalsky Krai, where Chita is located, for comment but received no response.