Russian Journalist Files Lawsuit Over Revoked Polish Residence Permit

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw has registered a lawsuit filed by Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency reporter Leonid Sviridov against the Polish authorities for revoking residence permit.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Sviridov left Warsaw for Moscow on December 12 after Poland made a final decision to annul his residence permit over unspecified allegations. The same day, the agency's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said Sviridov would file a lawsuit against Poland for the decision.

"[Leonid Sviridov's] lawsuit has been registered. Terms of lawsuit's consideration are yet to be determined," court spokeswoman Joanna Kube said, as quoted by the Polish press agency.

Sviridov had been working in Warsaw since 2003. In October 2014, the Polish Foreign Ministry revoked his press accreditation without explanation, following a request from the country's Internal Security Agency. In addition, Sviridov's Polish residence permit was cancelled.

Sviridov's case has already been included twice in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring reports on freedom of the media, which documents violations of journalists' rights within OSCE member states. In September, Rossiya Segodnya called on the OSCE to continue to press for the upholding of free speech in all its member states, and actively oppose discrimination against journalists.