Jailed Russian journalist Yelena Shukayeva, who contributes to RFE/RL's Russian Service and several other independent media outlets, has started a hunger strike to protest a 14-day jail sentence handed to her in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on August 17 for reposting jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny's investigative materials online.
The OVD-Info human rights group said on August 18 that Shukayeva revealed that her hunger strike is "a protest against police arbitrariness, the distortion of common sense, and the pandering of judges to any fantasies the police have."
Shukayeva was sentenced to 14 days in jail after a court in Yekaterinburg found her guilty of propagating and publicly displaying symbols of an extremist organization.
Russia last year declared Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation "extremist" and banned the use of any symbols tied to the group as part of a widening crackdown on dissent.
Also on August 17, police in the capital of Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, searched the homes of seven journalists contributing to programs of RFE/RL's Russian and Tatar-Bashkir Services, as well as Idel.Realities, an online project that covers news and events in the Volga-Urals region.
Pro-Kremlin website Tatar-Inform reported that the searches were linked to the journalists' articles covering Russia's ongoing invasion against Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin signed a law in March that calls for lengthy prison terms for distributing "deliberately false information" about Russian military operations as the Kremlin seeks 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 Army 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.
RFE/RL's President and CEO Jamie Fly has condemned Shukayeva's sentencing and the searches of the journalists' homes.