Radio Liberty journalist summoned for questioning
The police summoned an investigative journalist for Radio Liberty for questioning. The day before, the prosecutor's office opened a case against "Skhemy" journalists following a statement from a judge whose Russian citizenship was revealed by them in an investigation, Radio Liberty reports.
"Our journalist Heorhiy Shabayev also discovered that the judge of the Donetsk District Court, Lyudmila Arestova, made a trip to Moscow in May 2014 and used a Russian passport for this. From 2018 to January 2022, she made multiple visits to the occupied Crimea. Arestova spent a total of 255 days there," Radio Liberty notes.
We remind you that on July 13, "Skhemy" reported in their investigation that according to an extract from the automated system "Rospasport", a Donetsk District Administrative Court judge, Lyudmila Arestova, is a citizen of the Russian Federation. The extract indicates that Arestova received her Russian passport in 2014 on the basis of the so-called "agreement on the integration of Crimea into Russia," which recognized Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons who permanently lived on the peninsula at that time as citizens of Russia.
The journalists also found out that the judge has made multiple trips to the occupied Crimea between 2018 to January 2022, spending more than 250 days there in total. In her comment, the judge stated that she "has no Russian citizenship" and assumed that a passport "may have really been issued" to her, as to the rest of the people formally registered in Crimea, after the pseudo-referendum. As to the trips to the occupied peninsula, Arestova explained that she needed to visit her parents.
On July 26, 2023, it was reported that the Slovyansk district prosecutors have opened a case over Radio Liberty journalists' possible interference with the work of Donetsk District Administrative Court judge, Lyudmila Arestova, whose Russian citizenship "Skhemy" journalists had discovered. The case was opened after Judge Arestova reported "interference in the administration of justice aimed at discrediting her", sending the report to the Supreme Council of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office.
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