Mikhail Afanasiev

Resident of Abakan. Editor of the publication Novy Focus. In 2009, a libel case was brought against Afanasyev in connection with the publication that after the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP accident Afanasyev wrote in his Internet diary that there were still people alive in the flooded premises, but the authorities were doing nothing to save them. The case was soon dropped. "Novaya Gazeta" claims that a total of at least 14 criminal cases were brought against Afanasyev before the war because of his professional activities.

He was detained on 13 April 2022 after a search in the case of spreading deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces. On 15 April, the court ruled to take him into custody. On 17 November, the court returned the case to the prosecutor's office, and in March 2023 the case was sent back to court. On 7 September 2023 Afanasyev was sentenced to five and a half years in a general regime colony. On 28 September, the court liquidated the Novy Focus publication.