The independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta said Tuesday that its managing editor Oleg Roldugin was charged with the illegal gathering and use of personal information.
Roldugin was arrested on Thursday amid a police raid on the newspaper’s Moscow office. A judge later ordered him to be held in pre-trial detention until May 10.
Investigators accuse Roldugin and “unidentified individuals” of illegally obtaining and publishing personal information. The charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Roldugin pleaded not guilty to the charge. The journalist and his lawyer said they were not made aware of whose personal information he was accused of having obtained.
Roldugin is a veteran investigative journalist known for his reporting on alleged corruption among top Russian officials, including former President Dmitry Medvedev and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Before joining Novaya Gazeta, he worked for the weekly publication Sobesednik, which closed after it was designated a “foreign agent” in 2024.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Russian law enforcement to immediately release Roldugin and stop what it described as the targeted prosecution of Novaya Gazeta.
Novaya Gazeta ceased print publication shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine due to draconian censorship laws that the government introduced as part of a broader crackdown on the press. The newspaper has continued to publish articles and videos online.
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