The trade union of journalists and media workers demanded to investigate the death of Irina Slavina

It states the need to investigate the circumstances of the suicide of the Nizhny Novgorod journalist Irina Slavina and the demand to punish those responsible for bringing her to such an act.

In particular, the statement says that the case of the death of the editor-in-chief of the Nizhny Novgorod edition of Koza Press, Irina Slavina, should be dealt with by federal structures, and not by local investigative bodies. The authors of the appeal express confidence that the reason for the suicide was the prolonged persecution and pressure on the journalist by the state security agencies, the website of the radio station Echo of Moscow reports "The responsibility for the death of Slavina should be borne by everyone who started cases, signed decisions, passed sentences, conducted a humiliating search - everyone who systematically turned her life into hell. It is unacceptable that those who kill by means of the law remain unpunished", - said in a statement.

Earlier, the Commission on the Rights of Journalists , the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) and the Independent Trade Union of Journalists, made a call to investigate the circumstances of the death of the journalist.

Irina Slavina committed suicide on October 2 in front of the building of the Nizhny Novgorod department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, having written before that on her Facebook - "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death." Previously, she was repeatedly fined for her publications and for participating in street actions, - the newspaper Meduza notes . She also unexpectedly became a witness in the case of participation in the activities of an "undesirable organization" to which she had nothing to do. In this case, the journalist was ransacked the day before her suicide, forcing her to dress in the presence of strangers and confiscating all computers and telephones from her apartment.

The regional department of the Investigative Committee has begun a pre-investigation check, reports the Kommersant newspaper . At the same time, the department already denies that the death of the journalist can be connected with the searches conducted in her house the day before.

Human rights activists, in turn, demanded that the authorities stop using searches "to intimidate citizens" and add amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code that "prevent the investigator from abusing, " Obshchaya Gazeta reports . Human rights activists also noted that investigators often ignore the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code: they do not allow lawyers to search, they invite practitioners as attesting witnesses, and confiscate equipment, although it is irrelevant to the case.

“This is not suicide, to which the authorities are so inclining us now,” says a colleague of Irina Slavina. “This is the highest act of self-sacrifice ... She understood that to work for her, to fulfill her journalistic duty as she saw in her independent media, she will not. It was the highest answer to this system. "

A farewell ceremony for Irina Slavina and a civil funeral service took place in the Nizhny Novgorod House of Scientists. Hundreds of people came to say goodbye to her, among them - the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin. Earlier, he wrote that he mourns the death of the journalist, and said that he would seek an investigation into its causes, reports svoboda.org . Then there was a procession to the place of her death, in which hundreds of people took part.