3
0
A Russian journalist died on Friday after setting herself on fire in front of the local branch of the interior ministry in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, a day after her apartment was searched by police, her news outlet said.
Prior to her self-immolation, Irina Slavina wrote on her Facebook page: "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death."
Slavina worked as editor-in-chief at Koza Press, a small local news outlet that advertised itself as having "no censorship, no orders 'from above'".
A day before her death, she wrote on Facebook that police officers and investigators had searched her apartment, writing that they were looking for "brochures, leaflets and accounts" from the Open Russia opposition group, which is financed by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
She said they seized notebooks, her laptop and other electronics, as well as her daughter's laptop and her husband's mobile phone.