A secret bag and vest from protest rallies. What journalists are selling to raise money to fine an independent media outlet in Yekaterinburg.

An auction during which it is planned assemble The 550 ruble contest to pay the fine for the online publication Vecherniye Vedomosti starts very soon, at 17:30 PM Moscow time. You can participate from anywhere in the world: live stream available on the publication's YouTube channel, where you can place bets online.

As the director of Vecherniye Vedomosti told NeMoskva Guzel AitkulovaUp for auction are paintings by local artists, a secret bag from Novaya Gazeta, merchandise from advocates for the return of direct mayoral elections, and much more.
Also will sell A vest that belonged to a journalist from Znak.com, which closed after the war began. It survived the January 2021 protests in support of Navalny and has survived the coronavirus era, serving at pickets against QR codes. The starting price is 1312 rubles.

The auction is part of the "Press Investigation" festival, which kicked off yesterday. On the first day, the editorial staff held debates with their readers and also performed a stand-up comedy routine featuring funny and absurd stories from their professional lives.
About 50 people came to us and we have already collected 50 thousand for the fine., - said Guzel Aitkulova. - The security forces also visited. But they didn't disrupt anything; they simply tried to record what was happening in the hall on video camera. The debate about censorship and freedom of speech was very productive.

Over the past year, the online publication "Evening News" got Several fines totaling one million rubles were issued for publishing news about anti-war protests.
Almost 450 were raised through a reader fundraiser. Another 550 were raised by journalists. plan collect this weekend.

The auction broadcast begins here.