Seminar for Investigative Journalism in Syktyvkar was interrupted again. Police visited lecture of correspondent of the French edition Arrêt sur images Vincent Coquaz on November 11.
According to one of the participants, police officers arrived at the office of the Komi Human Rights Commission "Memorial" at the end of the lecture – at about 19:30 (it started at 17:40). They explained that they had received a call about human retention. After watching the room, interviewing presented people and finding out about French citizen among them, the police have called migration service of MIA. According to witnesses, it arrived a minute later. According to respondents, the police asked how often they were in the "Memorial" office and for what purposes. Vincent Coquaz got no claims. The lecture continued after interrogation.
This is the third attempt to disrupt the seminar of investigative journalists in Komi: November 10, electricity was switched off and fire alarm triggered, and on November 8, the police was reported about a bomb in the building. Also, organizers of the seminar, journalists Grigory Pasko and Igor Korolkov, received threats: Korolkov received sms with advice to "stay at home" from unknown numbers, and Pasko – envelope with powder.
On the eve of the seminar in Syktyvkar state newspapers have published several reports on the arrival of a journalist with headings "Money of Czech billionaires will be distributed in Syktyvkar" and "Traitors school will train Syktyvkar blogger", which alluded to his connection with foreign intelligence agencies. Both messages were identical in content and copied an entry from an anonymous blog on LiveJournal.com, which, according to the registration data, was created in the publication date and contained just one entry – about Pasko.
Sofia Krapotkina, «7x7»
