BULLETINS OF CENTER FOR JOURNALISM IN EXTREME SITUATIONS
DANGEROUS PROFESSION: WEEKLY
WEEKLY BULLETIN OF EVENTS IN RUSSIAN MASS-MEDIAISSUE NO. 50 (255), DECEMBER 11 – 17, 2006
Author – Analyst Of Center For Journalism In Extreme Situations,
Candidate Of Political Science Mikhail Melnikov (mel@cjes.ru)
I. Events of the Week
1. A rally in memory of slain journalists was held in Moscow on December 17. The rally was organized by journalists from some of Moscow’s media organizations and had some 400 participants.
The rally was held in memory of the journalists who were killed in Russia while performing their professional duties over the past 15 years. “The purpose of the rally is to remember our late colleagues and remind to society that violence against people whose only weapon is speech is disgraceful and unacceptable,” said the organizers of the rally.
2. Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the government to give more attention to extremism prevention.
In particular, the culture ministry was asked to work more intensively with the mass media. “I don’t mean that you should ban something, but you should be more active in your work with the media, promote new programs, initiate events, and cover then appropriately,” said the president.
II. Attacks and Threats against Journalists
The Moscow Presnya Interdistrict Prosecutor’s Office has refused to open a criminal case against the law enforcement officials accused of violating the rights of journalists during the dispersal of the gay pride parade held in Moscow on May 27.
“This news did not surprise and did not shock me. I am not used to having any illusions in this country,” one of the victims, RTVi reporter Roman Super, told Ekho Moskvy radio.
“I cannot recall any court ruling that is in favor of a journalist. Journalists are beaten, questioned at Lubyanka, censored and killed, and it has become the norm. My case is not the most terrible one,” said Super.
III. Detentions and Arrests of Journalists
Irina Tikhonova, editor of the information agency Pskovskoye Buro Novostei (PAI), has been detained in Pskov on the basis of a request made by the Pskov region’s administration, a source in the Pskov law enforcement agencies told PAI. The source said Tikhonova is charged with insulting as person in public (an offense envisioned by Article 130 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
IV. Restrictions on Journalists. Pressure on the Media
1. Officials from the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service’s department for the Sverdlovsk region have found the glossy magazines published in Yekaterinburg in breach the federal law On Advertising, which became effective on July 1, 2006
Among those magazines are Somelye, Stolnik, Vkus, Le, Sovremenny Don i Ofis, Happy, Tsea Voprosa, Yekaterinburg. Evropa. Aziya, and Uralskiye Avialinii, Novy Region has reported.
2. The Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) intends to toughen control over Internet sites promoting narcotics and psychotropic substances, Novosti reported citing FSKN First Deputy Director Alexander Fyodorov.
3. The Russian Pension Fund has asked the Interior Ministry’s investigations committee and the mass media not to make statements and not to publish reports defaming the Fund’s reputation.
“Pension Fund Board Chairman Gennady Batanov has sent official letters to the head of the Interior Ministry’s Investigations Commi8ttee and the heads of the mass media, in which he asked them to refrain from making unconfirmed statements and running publications that defame the business reputation of the fund and create social tension in society,” says the fund’s press release.
The Pension Fund says all its structures and divisions are working normally.
4. The division of the Russian Union of Journalists in the Tomsk region issued a statement on December 15, in which it expressed concerns about the fact that some of the Tomsk media are being used by the lawyers for former Tomsk mayor Alexander Makarov to put pressure on the public.
“Those who know how to manipulate journalists are skillfully taking advantage of the law enforcement’s agencies inaptitude to work with the mass media in extraordinary situations. We are convinced that in this situation the media should not just ‘try’ to information the audience of events as objectively and promptly as possible but also be objective on the case, check information, and conduct independent journalistic investigations,” says the statement.
V. Lawsuits against Journalists
1. The Arkhangelsk Oktyabrsky District Court has issued a sentence in the case involving Ilya Azovsk, a former editor of the newspaper Pravda Severo-Zapada. The court upheld the ruling issued by a lower court on October 31, 2006, which sentenced the journalist to one year in a penal colony for slandering Duma deputy Vladimir Krupchak.
2. The Gorno-Altaisk City Court (Republic of Altai) on December 12 dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by Vyacheslav Trigubovich, director of the Altai State Nature Preserve, against local journalist Dmitry Kobzev and Sergei Mikhailov, founder of the newspaper Listok.
The plaintiff demanded that Kobzev and Mikhailov refute information he believes is untrue and defamatory to him and publicly apologize to him. He also sought to recover from the defendants 100,000 in moral damages.
The suit was filed over an article written by Kozbev, which was published in Listok on June 14, 2006. The article dealt with the conflict between the administration of the preserve and the residents of the village of Yaylu, which is located on the territory of the preserve. The Yaylu residents have asked the authorities for several years to fire Tregubovich, accusing him of cruelty and arbitrariness.
3. The Moscow Preobrazhensky Court on December 13 ruled dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by Moskovsky Komsomolets observer Sergei Buchkov against Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the external relations department of the Moscow patriarchate.
The suit against Chaplin was filed over one of his speeches broadcast on the radio in July 2006, in which he sharply criticized Buchkov’s articles on the Russian Orthodox Church. Bychkov demanded a refutation of the information stated in the speeches and 100,000 rubles in moral damages.
“The court has dismissed Mr Buchkov’s lawsuit, and, that, in my opinion, means that the court has found Mr Bychkov to be a liar. The evidence of his lies was very convincing. I am convinced that this person deliberately lies defaming the Russian Orthodox Church,” said Chaplin
4. The TsSKA soccer club has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper Sovetsky Sport and its observer Vasily Utkin.
The lawsuit was filed over Utkin’s article entitled Games We Deserve, which was devoted to the Rostov-TsSKA championship.
5. The department of the Federal Anti-Monoply Service for the Tomsk region on December 11 opened a case against the state television and radio broadcasting company Tomsk. The company is accused of violating the federal law On Advertising.
6. Journalist Mikhail Afanasyev on December 11 filed an appeal with the Abanan City Court (Republic of Khakasiya) contesting the decision made by Magistrate Marina Khokhlova on December 1 to confiscate the website Novy Fokus (www.khakasia.info) and fine the site’s administration 20,000 rubles.
Afanasyev, who is the editor of the site, says he is confident that the court has not studied all legislation governing the registration and operation of media publications in Russia and therefore the magistrate’s decision is not fair and ungrounded.
“I believe the ruling issued by Magistrate Marina Khokhlova is not based on the current Russian legislation. The ruling was issued despite the expiration of the statue of limitations, the court failed to prove any wrongdoing by my client and ignored the regulations and proof indicating that there is no reason for administrative liability here,” said Irina Khrunova, a lawyer for Afanasyev.
7. The Saratov prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal case on the basis of an article run by the newspaper Saratovsky Reporter, which contained information on the income of Vyacheslav Volodin, deputy speaker of the State Duma and secretary of the general council presidium of United Russia.
The article, which was called “Does Volodin Work for OAO Impexbank?”. states that Volodin “illegally has a bank deposit exceeding 635,000, on which he does not pay taxes.”
After the article came out, Volodin complained to the Prosecutor General’s Office, asking it to prosecutor the paper’s editor Sergei Mikhailov for “illegal disclosure and use of information constituting a tax and banking secret” (a crime envisioned by Article 183 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
Commentary Prepared by CJES Legal Expert Boris Panteleyev for Section V.6
The criminal case against independent Abakan journalist Mikhail Afanasyev was already mentioned in the October 2-8, 2006 edition of this bulletin.
All the things Afanasyev is accused of doing involve the Internet publication Novy Fokus (www.khakasia.info). Novy Fokus is still not an officially registered media publication, which means that the ruling in this case can be regarded as a precedent as it involves an Internet publication.
Now it has become known that the magistrate has found the charges against Afanasyev to be grounded, the website Novy Fokus (www.khakasia.info) has been confiscated, and its owner has been fined 20,000 rubles.
However, the defendant’s position on a number of significant circumstances of this case seems to be unclear. Afanasyev continues to call himself the editor of the site and cite legislation governing the registration and operation of media publications in Russia. However, over the course of the trial he apparently failed to register his site as a full-fledged media publication to confirm his status of a professional journalist. Therefore, Afanasyev can legally be considered the owner, a technical operator, a stringer, but not an editor or a journalist working for an officially registered media publication. If it is really so, courts are unlikely to seriously discuss issues relating to the violation of the material forms and professional standards governing the work of journalists in Russia.
We are hoping that the journalistic community will be able to become familiar with the full text of the magistrate’s decision and the ruling issued by the higher court and draw conclusions from this milestone conflict.
Type Of Event
Number Of Cases
Attacks On Journalists
Fatalities Among Journalists
Detentions And Arrests Of Journalists
1 – Pskov region
Lawsuits Against Journalists
1 – Ivanovo region
1 – Arkhangelsk region
1 – Altai, Republic of
1 – Tomsk region
2 – Khakasiya, Republic of
1 – Saratov region
Other Kinds Of Pressure On Editorial Boards And Journalists
1 – Belgorod region
1 – Tomsk region
1 – Nizhny Novgorod region
