Russia puts 2016 Eurovision song contest winner Jamala on wanted list, accused of spreading false information about Ukraine war

Russia has put the Ukrainian 2016 Eurovision song contest winner Susana Jamaladinova, whose stage name is Jamala, on its wanted list, according to state media.

The singer, who is currently in Australia, was arrested in absentia on Monday, accused of disseminating false information about the war Russia denies it’s waging against Ukraine. Jamala has been on the wanted list since last month, the Russian human rights website Mediazona said. She and her family fled Ukraine early on in the war, according to BBC News.

She’s charged with violating a law passed only last year that forbids people from spreading anything the Kremlin deems is fake information about the ongoing fighting in Ukraine. Specifically, a Russian Telegram channel said Jamala earned a place on the list for posting fake information about atrocities that Russia reportedly committed in Bucha, Ukraine.

The trained opera singer beat out the Russians at Eurovision for her song “1944,” about the deportation during World War II of 200,000 Crimean Tatars — including Jamala’s own ancestors — from the Crimean peninsula, which is part of Ukraine. Many of them died.

Jamala, 40, has been an outspoken critic of Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea as well as the invasion of Ukraine that Russia launched in 2022.

With News Wire Services