A journalistic investigation by several media outlets about the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was awarded an American television Emmy award. The award in the category “Investigative Reporting in the News Program” went to a story aired by CNN, the Emmy jury reported on Wednesday, September 29. The investigation was carried out jointly by CNN, Bellingcat, The Insider and Der Spiegel.
The participants in the journalistic investigation came to the conclusion that in August 2020, officers of the FSB special group operating under the cover of the Institute of Forensic Science committed an assassination attempt on Navalny using a banned chemical warfare agent of the Novichok group. The material published on December 14 last year indicates that FSB officers have been following Navalny for several years. Investigators found out that, according to the air travel database, members of the group flew to dozens of cities in Russia, where Navalny also flew.
Poisoning of Navalny
Alexey Navalny was poisoned in Tomsk in August 2020 and then transported to Germany for treatment. Navalny accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin and the FSB of the assassination attempt. More than 50 countries – members of the OPCW have called on Russia to investigate the poisoning of the politician. The Russian authorities deny all charges. The EU and the UK have imposed sanctions for the poisoning of Navalny.
On January 17, 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was detained at Sheremetyevo airport. On February 2, he was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months in prison on charges of violating probation obligations in the case of the Yves Rocher cosmetics company. As part of this case, Alexei Navalny and his brother Oleg were found guilty of embezzlement in December 2014.
The Emmy Award is considered the world’s most prestigious television award. The name of the award comes from the word immy – this was the name of the transmitting vacuum tube in the first television cameras.