The Russia Today (RT) TV channel will continue probing the arrest of two RT reporters in the United States last weekend, the channel's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, said on Wednesday.
U.S. nationals Kaelyn Forde and Jon Conway were arrested during an annual protest in front of Fort Benning Army Base in Columbus, Georgia, on Saturday.
A local website (www.ledger-enquirer.com) said Forde and Conway were charged with demonstrating without a permit and failure to disperse. They each paid a $290 bond.
"There will be a court hearing," RT's Simonyan told RIA Novosti. "We have already reached all possible organizations for their reaction."
She said RT would be represented by a U.S. lawyer.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an internal investigation into the arrest.
International watchdog Reporters Without Borders has condemned the incident and demanded that the reporters be cleared of their charges.
Russia's senior human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva said the arrest could have been justified.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed "deep concern" over the incident and is "monitoring the situation closely," a source in the ministry told RIA Novosti.
The source said the actions of the U.S. police were "unacceptable," and that the charges brought against Forde and Conway contradicted the country's standards on media freedom.
Forde is still in a state of shock over what had happened, Simonyan said
There has been no official comment from the U.S. government yet.
More than 30 journalists have been killed in Russia over the past decade. It is ranked fifth in the Vienna-based International Press Institute's ranking of countries most dangerous for journalists, after Iraq, the Philippines, Colombia and Mexico.
In the latest incident, prominent reporter Oleg Kashin was brutally beaten outside his home in Moscow three weeks ago. Observers believe he was targeted for his writing.
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti)
