On 29 July, the Moscow City Court sentenced Russian journalist Darya Shipacheva to 12 years in prison on charges of “treason”. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) strongly condemn the imprisonment of Shipacheva and the ongoing criminalisation of journalists amid a crackdown on press freedom in Russia.
Darya Shipacheva, 35 years old, is a freelance science and medical journalist who has previously worked for publications such as Forbes Russia and RBC. On 23 April 2025, she was arrested at her Moscow apartment. According to her acquaintances, prior to her arrest she had received online threats from the ultra-nationalist and misogynistic Male State movement due to her feminist stance.
Her first court hearing took place on 27 July, after she had spent over a year in pre-trial detention. During the 90-minute trial, which took place behind closed doors, the prosecutor’s office demanded a 12-year prison sentence for alleged treason, based on a money transfer to Ukraine. The details of the official charges remain unknown.
T-Invariant reported that the Ukrainian-born journalist had relatives in Ukraine, and the money transfer cited as evidence of a criminal offence was made to a civilian relative there, according to her acquaintances.
The journalist pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators. On 29 July, the verdict was announced and she was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the minimum sentence for treason charges. More than a million and a half rubles belonging to the journalist were also confiscated.
The IFJ and the EFJ said: “We condemn the sentencing of journalist Darya Shipacheva to 12 years in prison on baseless charges following a 90-minute closed hearing. It is no coincidence that this criminalisation began in the wake of a harassment campaign launched by a nationalist group. Repressing opinions that advocate equality constitutes a serious violation of freedom of expression, just as sentencing journalists on baseless grounds violates press freedom. The Kremlin must stop silencing journalists on false pretences. Darya Shipacheva and all other detained journalists must be released.”
61 journalists and media actors are currently in detention in the Russian Federation and in occupied Ukraine as of December 2025.
Source: EFJ
