Police have broken his arm and threatened to put him in psychiatric detention for refusing to give information – but he remains determined to uncover the truth about state brutality and human rights abuses
In summer 2020, a referendum was held in Russia to amend the country’s constitution. On the ballot were changes that allowed President Vladimir Putin to run for two further six-year presidential terms, banned same-sex marriages, enshrined patriotic education in school curriculums and placed the constitution above international law.
Along with other colleagues, he worked to shed light on Russian government attempts to block media access to the internet, the administration’s manipulation of COVID-19 data to obscure an inept response to the pandemic, and the suppression of human rights in Belarus. For those Russians like Mr. Frenkel, who view the dismantling of a nascent democracy – hard-won following the years of– as unacceptable, silence is not an option. Passivity is intolerable. Saying and doing nothing induces guilt. Combine this emotion with anger and shame at the egregious behaviour of the ruling party, and the resultant mix fuels a moral courage that compels dissent and defiance. In Mr. Frenkel’s case, this entails taking photographs – often at considerable personal risk.
Mr. Frenkel had every reason to take this threat seriously. Three years earlier, activist Mikhail Kosenko, who had a past history of depression, was sentenced to enforced psychiatric detention and treatment for joining a protest against Mr. Putin the day before the President’s third inauguration. Despite widespread outrage at the decision, the conviction was upheld on appeal.
Mr. Frenkel looks at photos on his camera at his home in St. Petersburg. Like many journalists in Russia, he puts himself at great risk in documenting human rights abuses by the state. How long this arrangement will last is uncertain. Only last month, MediaZona and Mr. Smirnov were deemed to be foreign agents by the government – a move designed to hobble the organization with endless paperwork, audits and the perpetual threat of fines and imprisonment should compliance fall short.Personal items and tools of the journalistic trade lie around Mr. Frenkel's apartment. Mr.
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