Taking its name from the Ancient Greek term for “common belief or opinion,” DOXA is an independent student journal which discusses the pressing issues facing higher education in Russia, often from a critical standpoint. Its editorial body is composed of Russian students from various universities within Russia and abroad, with no one person acting as the “main editor.”
When Alexej Navalny returned to Russia after his recovery in early 2021 and was immediately arrested upon his return, stripping him of all guaranteed rights of citizens, DOXA called for peaceful protests.
In turn in April 2021 the authorities of the police state arrested the four editors of the student magazine DOXA – Armen Aramyan, Alla Gutnikova, Vladimir Metelkin and Natalia Tyshkevich.
The public prosecutor’s office accused them of showing solidarity with students who were expelled from their schools and universities because of their participation in anti-government protests. They were charged with “involving minors in acts that pose a threat to their lives.”
The police searched the editorial offices and the editors’ private apartments and confiscated tools needed for their work.
Alla and her fellow editors have been placed under house arrest, only able to leave the house from 8-10am. Their “crime” was to say to students, during the period when there were demonstrations against the incarceration of Navalny:
‘Don’t be afraid, and don’t be bystanders!
It is our legal right to express protest by any peaceful means.’
(‘Не бойтесь и не оставайтесь в стороне!
Это наше законное право – выражать протест любым мирным способом.’)
The four editors stayed under house arrest for a year – from April 2021 to April 2022.
When their trial took place in April of 2022, they were sentenced to two years of ‘correctional labour’ and a 3-year ban on administering any websites.
DOXA editors were greeted with applause from their supporters as they left the courtroom.
The Russian state authorities banned DOXA, but the journal continues as an independent, anti-government media and resolutely reports on oppositional and feminist issues and the concerns of youth in Russia. It is also one of the loudest Russian anti-war media, operating for example on Telegram.