a court orders the arrest of a Franco-British journalist from France 24 who entered the Kursk region – Libération

A Russian court has ordered the arrest of Catherine Norris Trent, a senior reporter for the France 24 television channel. The journalist entered the Russian region of Kursk with the Ukrainian army in September.

A Russian court has ordered the arrest of Catherine Norris Trent, a senior reporter for the France 24 news channel, accused of illegally entering Russia's Kursk region, partly controlled by Ukraine, it has been reported. learned this Tuesday, November 26 via the Russian press agency Tass, cited by Reuters.

On October 7, the Russian security services (FSB) announced that they had opened an investigation against the Franco-British journalist and her Swiss counterpart Kurt Pelda (CH Media) for having “illegally crossed the border of the Russian Federation in the Kursk region”.

The journalist, based in Paris, entered the region in September with the Ukrainian army in order to produce a report. This report, visible on the France 24 website and broadcast at the end of September by the channel, shows her actually embarked with the Ukrainian troops in the region where they achieved a breakthrough at the beginning of August.

A dozen journalists targeted by accusations of this type

Catherine Norris Trent is not the first journalist to suffer the wrath of Moscow. Russia regularly announces the opening of investigations against foreign journalists who traveled to the occupied Kursk zone, and a dozen journalists have been targeted to date by accusations of this type. Proceedings have notably been opened against reporters from the American television channel CNN, the Italian channel RAI and the German Deutsche Welle.

In the case of Catherine Norris Trent, the legal proceedings were initiated in absentia. The journalist risks arrest if she goes to Russian territory. According to the penal code, this charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.

When announcing the opening of the investigation by the FSB, France 24 recalled that the activity of its reporter is “protected by the rights afforded to journalists under the Geneva Convention and international law.”