According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Natasha Tyshkevich (НаташаТышкевич), a former journalist of the Russian student magazine Doxa (Журнал DOXA), revealed that she was held at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia, for approximately 40 hours. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia has not responded to inquiries from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) to confirm the incident or provide reasons for her detention.
Tyshkevich arrived in Belgrade from Malta on 7 August 2023, using a “Tourist Passport” issued by Germany, where she currently resides. However, she was denied entry into Serbia. She explained that she had obtained this document from the German officials a year ago, as her Russian passport had been confiscated by the Russian police.
Natasha worked till 2021 for the Russian student magazine Doxa, (Журнал DOXA). In April 2021, the offices of the Doxa were raided by the police. Its four editors Natalia (Natasha) Tyshkevich, Armen Aramyan, Vladimir (Volodya) Metyolkin and Alla Gutnikova were charged after the posting a video expressing support for students threatened with expulsion for participating in anti-government protests in Russia. In April 2022 a District Court in Moscow sentenced all four editors to two years of correctional labor and banned them from administering in Russia any websites for three years. Doxa was founded in 2017 as journal of the Moscow campus of the Higher School of Economics.
The detention of Natasha Tyshkevich by Serbian authorities is regarded as a violation of human rights. During her 40-hour ordeal at the airport, she reported receiving little food. Friends attempted to deliver food through the airport’s information center, but the police refused to allow it.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) calls for urgent clarification from Serbian authorities about this incident.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non-profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.
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