The director of a Russian news site died after setting herself on fire in the city of Nizhny Novgorod

Irina Slavina, director of a Russian news site, she’s dead after setting herself on fire in front of an office of the Ministry of Interior in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, in central European Russia. Shortly before setting himself on fire, Slavina he wrote on his Facebook page: “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death.” There is not much information on what happened, but on Thursday Slavina said that the police had searched his apartment looking for material related to Open Russia, a pro-democracy group. Slavina, who had a husband and daughter, was director of Goat Press, a small Russian news site that has “no censorship” among its slogans.

The Russian investigative committee responsible for the case confirmed Slavina’s death, but denied that it was connected in any way to the search of her apartment. A spokesperson for the committee told Ria Novosti that Slavina was just a witness to an alleged ongoing investigation – therefore neither suspected nor accused. Pavel Chikov, head of Agora, organization for the defense of human rights, he wrote that her group had worked with Slavina in the past after authorities opened an investigation against her for spreading fake news and insulting the authorities. Agora had presented the case before the European Court of Human Rights.

–