{"id":90468,"date":"2021-03-23T17:22:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T17:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=177643"},"modified":"2021-03-23T17:22:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T17:22:58","slug":"claims-of-censorship-as-moscow-book-fair-scraps-appearance-by-navalny-aide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/23\/claims-of-censorship-as-moscow-book-fair-scraps-appearance-by-navalny-aide\/","title":{"rendered":"Claims Of Censorship As Moscow Book Fair Scraps Appearance By Navalny Aide"},"content":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW — A Moscow book fair has prompted accusations of censorship after it canceled an appearance by a debut author who is a top aide to jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny.<\/p>\n
Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s longtime spokeswoman and a prominent activist in her own right, was set to present her novel Incredible Incidents In Women’s Cell No. 3 at the Non\/Fiction book festival, which will be held at an exhibition space near the Kremlin from March 24 to 28.<\/p>\n
But the book’s publisher, Corpus, revealed that its parent company had given in to pressure by the event’s organizers to withdraw Yarmysh’s appearance from the event.<\/p>\n
“It’s the typical argument,” Corpus chief editor Varvara Gornostayeva wrote in a Facebook<\/a><\/strong> post on March 23. “We need to preserve the book fair at any price, and an appearance by a opposition figure, and Aleksei Navalny’s spokesperson at that, places the fair’s existence under threat.”<\/p>\n Vitaly Kogtyev, a representative of the book fair, confirmed the decision to withdraw Yarmysh’s invitation in comments to Russian media, though he did not cite a reason. Non\/Fiction did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the event program published on its website<\/a><\/strong> includes no mention of Yarmysh or her book.<\/p>\n