NECIR director freed after detainment in Russia

The executive director of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting was detained in Russia Thursday "for allegedly illegally conducting a journalism workshop in St. Petersburg," according to the center’s website.

Joe Bergantino was kept for several hours along with University of South Carolina professor Randy Covington. The two men were teaching a journalism workshop to a group of 14 journalists in Russia that was supposed to last two days, NECIR wrote. The workshop was part of a grant to teach Russian journalists and was awarded to the university by the U.S. government.

The two men were not allowed to continue their workshop.