A day after her apartment was searched by police, a Russian journalist, Irina Slavina died on Friday after setting herself ablaze in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.
Before her self-immolation, Slavina in a post on her Facebook page said the Russian Federation should be blamed for her death. The post reads “I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death.”
Also, in the post, she said police officers and investigators had searched her flat for brochures, leaflets and accounts from the Open Russia opposition group.
Slavina accused the officers of seizing her notebooks, laptop and other electronics, as well as her daughter’s laptop and her husband’s mobile phone.
The journalist before her death was the editor-in-chief at a small local news outlet, Koza Press. Meanwhile, Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was opening a preliminary inquiry over a self-immolated incidence in Nizhny Novgorod, though the committee didn’t mention Slavina in its statement.
However, the committee’s local branch in the Nizhny Novgorod region later said that Slavina’s self-immolation had nothing to do with the searches carried out at her flat on the previous day.
Members of Russia’s opposition said Slavina had been under pressure from the authorities.
