View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]

April 4, 2025

Greetings from Amsterdam,

Russia’s crackdown on the press continues, with a prominent exiled investigative journalist sentenced in absentia this week to eight years in prison for her reporting on atrocities in Ukraine. This comes as top Kremlin officials tout ever-tougher restrictions on access to information, with dozens of media outlets banned and hundreds of thousands of websites blocked in the past year.

In Georgia, a controversial Foreign Agents Registration Act has been rubber-stamped by the parliament. Nightly protests continue despite heavy fines being handed out — enabled by new surveillance tech.

As Myanmar reels from last week’s devastating earthquake, civil society groups and media outlets are warning against channeling relief funds to the country’s kleptocratic junta.

Our investigative journalism continues to have an impact: this week a parliamentary committee in Cyprus is set to discuss a superyacht-rental-cum-tax-evasion scheme linked to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, which we and our Cypriot member center CIReN revealed earlier this year.

Read on for more.


** Russia's Media Crackdown
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]

People killed by the Russian soldiers in Andriivka. Top row: Anton Ishchenko, Igor Savran, Vladimir Pozharnikov, Ruslan Yaremchuk, Evgeny Stepanuk, Yury Kravchenya, Andrei Rudenko. Bottom row: Vadim Ganyuk, Vitaly Kibukevich, Aleksei Cherkovskiy, Igor Ermakov, Ivan Rybitsky, Evgeny Piskotin. (Images via social media, family archives)

Earlier this week, a Moscow court sentenced ([link removed]) two journalists, in absentia, to eight and a half years in prison each.

The criminal charges against Roman Anin, the former editor-in-chief (now publisher) of longtime OCCRP partner IStories, and journalist Ekaterina Fomina stemmed from three reports they produced in 2022 about the killing of Ukrainian civilians by Russian forces.

IStories editor-in-chief Alesya Marokhovskaya is also being prosecuted in Russia, wanted for “evasion of duties of a foreign agent.”

Fomina and Anin were sentenced under an article that forbids the spread of “knowingly false information” about the Russian Armed Forces.

An analysis by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists finds ([link removed]) that “knowingly false information” can be interpreted to mean “any information which does not come from Russian official sources,” and notes that cases can be pursued by prosecutors regardless of the journalist’s physical location.

Those sentenced in absentia, CPJ writes ([link removed]) , “would immediately be arrested if they traveled to Russia or a country that could extradite them to Russia.”

“Thankfully, these journalists are not there. But as long as this regime remains in power, they can never return to their homeland,” said OCCRP senior editor Ilya Lozovsky.

For a separate story that was published by OCCRP in 2022 ([link removed]) , Fomina documented war crimes in Andriivka, a village near Kyiv that spent a month under Russian occupation. There, she pieced together what Russian troops had been doing: boozing, looting, torturing, and killing civilians. She managed to track down a soldier who had killed a civilian and secured a straightforward confession: “I tell him to walk forward," the soldier told her. "He walks forward. I tell him, ‘On your knees.’ And I just shoot him in the head.”

“That quote, and the rest of Katia's reporting, will forever be part of the historical record,” Lozovsky said.

Read Fomina's 2022 war crimes investigation ([link removed])


** More OCCRP Reporting
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]


** Repressive Measures Continue in Georgia
------------------------------------------------------------

Georgia's parliament has passed ([link removed]) a controversial new Foreign Agents Registration Act, which critics warn will be used to further suppress independent media and civil society.

The ruling Georgian Dream party has pushed through a raft of repressive legislation since last year’s election, which was widely criticized as neither free nor fair. Proposed laws attract little debate, with opposition MPs having boycotted the parliament over election fraud claims; the Georgian Dream assembly rubber-stamped ([link removed]) a motion to end their mandates in February.

Protests outside parliament each night on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue continue despite hefty fines ([link removed]) for “blocking the road”. The authorities have made heavy use of newly-installed Chinese surveillance cameras ([link removed]) equipped with facial recognition technology.

Protesters are being monitored in real time ([link removed]) , Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association legal expert Shorena Loladze told OCCRP. This, she said, is creating a broader chilling effect. “People fear fines on one hand, and on the other, they fear being watched.”

Meanwhile, the UK has sanctioned ([link removed]) two influential Georgian judges on suspicion of “serious corruption” favoring the ruling party.

Read more about the Foreign Agents Registration Act ([link removed]) →


** Friends Like These: Socialite's Sanctions Relief
------------------------------------------------------------

As some of the United States’ biggest trading partners reel from the announcement of new tariffs, and several Russian individuals and entities face fresh sanctions ([link removed]) over support for Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Trump administration has made the curious decision to lift sanctions from the wife of a key Russian oligarch.

The U.S. on Wednesday quietly removed sanctions from Karina Rotenberg, the wife of Russian oligarch Boris Rotenberg, a billionaire and close ally of Vladimir Putin.

The socialite and sometime equestrian ([link removed]) was sanctioned in March 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Her husband remains under sanctions imposed in 2014, following the annexation of Crimea. The U.S. Treasury Department did not say why it decided to withdraw sanctions on Karina Rotenberg.

Former world chess champion, author, and activist Garry Kasparov derided the move on social media. “Tariffs on allies, lifting sanctions on enemies,” he commented shortly after the announcement on Wednesday ([link removed]) .

Read the full story ([link removed]) →

[link removed]


**
Cyprus Circles Back on Superyacht Scheme
------------------------------------------------------------

A parliamentary committee in Cyprus is set to discuss a company owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, which ceased operations after being hit with an $18.5-million tax bill linked to a fraudulent superyacht-rental tax evasion scheme.

Parliamentarian Alexandra Attalides wrote a letter asking the Committee on Ethics to look into whether the tax bill was paid, citing a January investigation by OCCRP and its Cypriot member center CIReN.

“In the event that this has not happened,” she asked the parliamentary committee to seek information on “what actions the competent authority took before the dissolution of the company, in order to ensure the repayment of the aforementioned debt.”

Read the full story ([link removed]) →


** News In Brief
------------------------------------------------------------

* Swiss authorities announced ([link removed]) on Tuesday that the total value of frozen Russian funds in the country has reached $8.38 billion, with over $1.81 billion seized in the past year. The frozen assets include 14 properties, luxury vehicles, furniture, and musical instruments, and were seized from sanctioned individuals, companies, and entities.

* OCCRP reporting partner Bolot Temirov is waiting ([link removed]) for the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to make a public statement after reviewing the case of his jailed wife, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy. Last month the U.N. body urged ([link removed]) Kyrgyz authorities to release an imprisoned journalist and drop sentences against others, but had yet to comment on Tazhibek Kyzy’s case.

* The Kremlin has vowed ([link removed]) a tit-for-tat response against Moldova’s expulsion of three Russian diplomats, who are suspected to have helpedParliamentarian Alexander Nesterovsky abscond ahead of a verdict against him. He received a 12-year prison sentence for illegally funnelling money to a pro-Kremlin party ahead of 2023 local and presidential elections and last year’s European Union referendum.

* A crackdown on a ‘Ndrangheta-style gang accused of crimes including fraud, drug trafficking and money laundering, has led to 29 arrests ([link removed]) in Germany and Italy.

* French far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been found guilty ([link removed]) of embezzling EU funds, with a court this week barring her from holding political office, effectively dashing her 2027 presidential bid.

* Azerbaijani authorities have arrested ([link removed]) two senior officials from the Ministry of Agriculture for allegedly accepting bribes in exchange for vehicle registrations and technical certifications.


** Recommended Reading
------------------------------------------------------------


** Myanmar CSOs Call For Grassroots Support
------------------------------------------------------------

As Myanmar reels from last week’s devastating 7.7 earthquake, civil society and media outlets are warning against channeling relief funds to Myanmar’s kleptocratic junta, noting that the regime is likely to severely restrict humanitarian access.

“The [Myanmar] regime will delay, obstruct and control aid distribution,” exile media outlet The Irrawaddy wrote earlier this week ([link removed]) .

“Donors must ensure that aid is delivered transparently, bypassing the military’s grip … Providing humanitarian assistance must not mean legitimizing the junta. The world must stand with Myanmar’s people—not the war criminals in Naypyitaw.”


** USAID Cuts A Boon For Organized Crime
------------------------------------------------------------

OCCRP Publisher Drew Sullivan spoke with Salon about USAID funding cuts ([link removed]) , which have impacted our vital reporting projects on topics including Tren de Aragua in Venezuela, 'Ndrangheta in Italy and money laundering operations buying up real estate in the U.S.

Altered States: How Dictators Consolidate Power

The Signal and the Human Rights Foundation teamed up to publish a special print edition: “
Altered States ([link removed]) ,” which exposes how dictators use illicit wealth and influence to weaken democracy and strengthen authoritarianism.

OCCRP Editor in Chief Miranda Patrucic
wrote a piece ([link removed]) examining why dictators keep disrupting so many other countries. OCCRP readers can sign up here ([link removed]) for a free one-month trial to the Signal and to access "Altered States."

In Case You Missed It

At the end of March, OCCRP editors Laura Mannering and Ilya Lozovsky joined Sveriges Television (SVT) journalist Björn Tunbäck to answer user questions about the Scam Empire investigation. Head over to Reddit’s
[link removed] ([link removed]) to see the discussion.

P.S. Thanks for reading OCCRP Weekly! Reply to let us know what you think.

[link removed]

Copyright © 2025 Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, All rights reserved.
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)
Too many emails? Choose which emails you want from us ([link removed]) or unsubscribe from all OCCRP emails ([link removed])