Дайджест
15 Января 2018 года
Glasnost defence foundation digest No. 827-828
January 15 , 2018
STORY OF THE WEEK
Vienna conference
describes impunity for crimes against journalists as challenge to media freedom
By GDF Information
Service
A meeting in Vienna on 11
December discussed ways to end impunity for crimes committed against
journalists. The event organiser was the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the
Media, in cooperation with the Media Governance and Industries Research Lab at
the Department of Communication of the University of Vienna.
The Office of the OSCE
Representative on Freedom of the Media notes that the number of threats issued
to journalists reached a record high in 2016. There has been a lack of progress
in the fight against impunity for crimes. In around 90 percent of cases
concerning killing of journalists in the OSCE region, the perpetrators and
masterminds remain unpunished.
The Vienna forum brought
together experts of the Council of Europe, UNESCO, Reporters sans Frontieres,
the International Federation of Journalists, the European Federation of
Journalists, the Association of European Journalists, Article 19, the Committee
to Protect Journalists, Index on Censorship etc.
The speakers included
Harlem Désir, the representative on the freedom of media for the Organization
for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Katharine Sarikakis, Professor
of Media Industries, Media Organisation and Media Governance, University of
Vienna, Guy Berger, UNESCO director for freedom of expression and media
development and Thomas Hughes, Executive Director, Article 19.
Discussions focused on
practical, methodological and ethical issues of monitoring killings of
journalists; the “round table” participants considered development of reliable
methodology and joint actions to collect accurate and comprehensive information
on such cases as well as measures to enhance journalists’ safety.
Glasnost Defence Foundation
representative Boris Timoshenko’s report addressed the recent increase in the
number of threats that were carried out. A recent joint survey by GDF and the
Media Rights Defence Centre found that more than one third of threats were made
good. In the period from January 2004 through September 2017, 11 journalists
were killed after they were threatened; 59 reporters were attacked after
receiving threats and 16 journalists, including two GDF correspondents, had to
leave Russia because of threats.
Timoshenko suggested that
police should investigate not only murders and attacks on journalists but also
the threats issued against them, thus beginning to fight impunity before these
threats can be carried out.
The report acknowledges
that fleeing the country is the only reliable way to counter impunity amidst
rare and inefficient law-enforcers’ probes into crimes against journalists.
EVENT OF THE WEEK
15 December is Remembrance Day of Journalists
Killed in the Line of Duty. A meeting in Moscow’s Central House of Journalists
venerated the memory of the deceased colleagues.
It brought together their relatives and
friends, media representatives and concerned people from all regions of the
country. After a minute of silence which launched the event Honorary Russian
Union of Journalists (RUJ) Chairman Vsevolod Bogdanov took the floor.
“We live in a difficult time, but we’ll join
hands and carry on our work regardless. We have to restore the society’s
confidence in our profession at all costs while keeping in mind that loving and
trusting are crucial to man,” Bogdanov said.
The next speaker, RUJ Chairman Vladimir
Solovyov cited frightening statistics: some 300 Russian journalists had been
killed in the line of duty since 1991. “Investigations into many cases are not
finished yet, but the Union of Journalists is set to seek justice,” the RUJ
chairman said. He pledged that the RUJ team would keep the best traditions
accumulated over a long period of time.
“Every year on 15 December we’ll gather here to
commemorate our colleagues, friends and relatives. It is important not only for
us, but also for the young people who wish to be journalists. They should be
inspired by heroic deeds of the people who sacrificed their lives in the line
of duty,” he said.
As a special treat to the participants,
well-known pianist Yekaterina Derzhavina played a Bach piece.
RUSSIA
By Anna Lebedeva, GDF correspondent in Southern
Federal District
On 26 November, Bloknot Volgograda
editor Yulia Zavyalova’s car was in motion when its brakes failed. Luckily, it
was her father, an experienced driver, who was steering the car at the moment.
He managed to stop it in the emergency. “My dad has a 30-year driving record;
he successfully regained control of the vehicle, I’m scared to image what could
have happened if I had been in the driver’s seat,” Yulia said. “Perhaps, this
is what they had hoped for!” Yulia Zavyalova believes that it was an
assassination attempt on her life. On that day, Yulia had to drive her daughter
to school as usual, but the day before, she asked her dad to go to a car
maintenance centre to fit her car with snow tyres.
Volgograd Region Forensic Centre specialists
said that a brake cable of Yulia’s Volkswagen Tiguan had been severed and that
the anti-lock braking system had been disabled. “A section of the car brake
shows mechanical damage such as four punctures, which might have been caused by
awl, point of a knife or screwdriver workface. An ABS cable also shows
mechanical damage such as rupture,” forensic experts said.
Yulia Zavyalova believes it was an
assassination attempt on her life that had to do with her professional
activity. Bloknot Volgograda has topped regional media rankings; over
the past few years it has published critical stories about Volgograd region
governor Andrey Bocharov, regional administration, Volgograd Town Hall
officials and corrupt ties between the authorities and business people.
After conducting a pre-investigation probe, the
police initiated criminal proceedings under Criminal Code Article 167 (damage
to property) and sent the case materials and expert examinations reports to the
Investigative Committee Department for the Volgograd region which had to decide
if an investigation into attempted murder should be opened. However, the
injured party told a GDF correspondent that the Investigative Committee had
refused to initiate criminal proceedings over attempted murder. “The
investigator told me that if the police found the suspects, they would file a
case,” Yulia Zavyalova said.
The Moscow City Court disallowed a claim by
Norwegian journalist Thomas Nilsen against Russia’s Federal Security Service.
On 8 March 2017, FSB officers stopped Nilsen on the Russian-Norwegian border
saying he had been denied entry into the country. The journalist had
accreditation and a five-year Russian visa (See GDF Digest 793 http://www.gdf.ru/digest/item/1/1462).
The Russian Embassy in Norway later said that
Nilsen had been put on the stop list in retaliation for Norway’s joining the EU
sanctions against certain Russian nationals.
Lawyer Ivan Pavlov from Team 29 who represents
the Norwegian journalist’s interests told an Internet portal correspondent that
he would appeal the decision at Russia’s Supreme Court. Pavlov said the FSB
treated the decision on barring entry into Russia to Nilsen as confidential
information without explaining the reasons. “We have no idea what these ‘stop
lists’ are which denied entry to Thomas Nilsen. We want to clarify the matter
but they won’t show them,” he said. “We are trying to find out the reason which
the FSB believes bars Thomas’s visit to Russia. They cite national security
interests and we say: “OK, what are the facts that make you think so? What data
provided the pretext to believe that Thomas Nilsen posed a threat to Russia’s
national security?” The document on the decision to put Nilsen on the threat
list was classified. Although our lawyer is on a written pledge not to divulge
the state secret, the document has never been shown to him. Russian courts have
seen a number of similar cases; nobody has ever been able to see the stop
lists; I believe this problem can be resolved by the Constitutional Court.”
By Vladimir Dymov, GDF correspondent in Far
Eastern Federal District
The Khabarovsk Territory Arbitration Court
(Judge I.Lazareva) refused to consider a claim by the regional government
Committee for Press and Mass Communications against Vostok Rossii radio.
In April 2017, the authorities checked the
regional radio station Vostok Rossii several times. Initially, the
Committee for Press and Mass Communications expressed concern over the radio’s
ineffective economic activity suggesting that the government liquidate the
company and affiliate the radio station with a non profit-making organisation.
It was followed by a prosecutor’s check into alleged duplicate budget payments
for the same stories. Vostok Rossii Director General Yevgenia Razlataya
told GDF that it had happened due to technical error. The error was eliminated
and by no means could impact the amount of the requested subsidy (See Digest
800 http://www.gdf.ru/digest/item/1/1477#z7).
The Khabarovsk Territory Committee for Press
and Mass Communications filed a claim against Khabrovsk Territory Radio
Ltd (which was Vostok Rossii’s new name adopted in the summer of 2017)
on recovering from the company 3,421,061 rubles worth of subsidy it had
received from the regional budget. After looking into the matter, the court
said that the sensitive stories carried by the radio (which apparently irked
the Committee) did not violate the subsidy terms. “The terms of subsidy, its
goal-oriented use and subsidy effectiveness indicators are proven by case
materials; there are no reasons for recovering the subsidy,” the court said.
By Roman Zholud, GDF correspondent in Southern
Federal District
Central Town Market Director Dmitry Dyakonenko
filed four defamation suits with the Anapa Town Court. Dyakonenko sued Everything
For You - Anapa Publishing House and Bloknot Anapy editor-in-chief
Anton Filimonov. The judge pooled the claims into one case; the overall damages
claim is worth 1.45 million rubles. On top of that, Central Market JSC filed a
claim with the Arbitration Court.
The conflict broke out in the summer of 2017
when Bloknot Anapy journalists visited the Central Market to check
vegetables and fruits for nitrates content. The journalists said the market
director reacted aggressively to the test threatening physical violence.
The incident was later recounted in the stories
published by Bloknot Anapy and Everything for You - Anapa. Market
Director Dmitry Dyakonenko filed a legal action demanding refutation of the
posts and recovering a total of one million rubles in damages from Everything
for You - Anapa JSC and Bloknot Anapy.
Publishing House journalists continued to cover
the conflict, so new stories appeared in September and October featuring the
Central Market director. The director filed a new action every time a story
about him came out, demanding 150,000 rubles in damage for each post and its
refutation.
At present, the court is mulling an expert
examination of the stories challenged by the director.
By Roman Zakharov, GDF correspondent in
North-Western Federal District
By Roman Zholud, GDF correspondent in Central
Federal District
Russian National Library employees, assisted by
GDF’s long-standing partner Media Rights Defence Centre, complained to St
Petersburg prosecutors about the ban on talking to reporters without
permission.
Library personnel are unhappy about the
administration’s Instruction No 2017 dated 26 October 2017 which commits them
to securing written permit of the Library press service for interviews about
the situation at their organisation.
The appointment of A.Visly as director of one
of the country’s largest libraries was followed by a series of scandals over
his management style and library development plans. Visly, a veteran employee
of the Russian State Library who worked his way through to the post of its
director was unexpectedly transferred to Petersburg whereupon plans were
announced to merge the two libraries. Of course, questions were asked regarding
these plans.
The director was criticised for victimizing the
personnel who disagreed with him and leasing the historical building of the
library to entertainment businesses... More complaints followed and a decision
was made to set up a public rescue committee which repeatedly demanded A.
Visly’s resignation at protest actions in St Petersburg. The position of
activists and resentful Library personnel is well-known thanks to media
coverage of the stand-off. The director then issued an order to silence those
who objected to his policy. The personnel complained to the prosecutor over the
violation of their right and the society’s right to receive information about
the Russian National Library.
They insist that the Library administration has
been concealing certain facts. “They’ve already tried to dismiss E.Shumilova,
one of the best librarians, for criticising the administration’s merger plans
at a news conference...” The director’s legalisation of punishment for public
discussions of unwelcome issues eventually forced Library personnel to seek
prosecutors’ help in defending their rights.
The complaint noted that the information on
Library operation should not be treated as confidential. Many aspects of
Library operation, such as the use of budget money must be transparent and
open. Hence, A.Visly’s instruction violates the law.
The public rescue committee, supportive of
Library personnel, lodged a complaint of its own with prosecutors. It noted a
violation of their right and the right of the society in general to have
information about the operation of the unique library which met much of city
residents’ demand for information.
The appellants are now awaiting response from
the prosecutor’s office.
This digest was prepared by the Glasnost Defence Foundation in Moscow. The digest has been issued once a week, on Mondays, since August 11, 2000.
We acknowledge the assistance of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
Currently it is distributed by e-mail to 1,600 subscribers in and outside Russia.
Editorial board
- Editor-in-chief, Alexei Simonov
- Boris Timoshenko, Head of Monitring Service;
- Svetlana Zemskova, GDF Lawyer;
- Vsevolod Shelkhovskoy, translator.
We welcome the promotion of our news items and articles but if you
make use of any information from this digest or other GDF materials
please acknowledge the source.
Contacts:
Glasnost Defence Foundation, Room 438, 4 Zubovsky Boulevard,
119992 Moscow, Russia.
Telephone/fax: +7 (495) 637-4947 and +7 (495) 637-4420
e-mail: boris@gdf.ru , or fond@gdf.ru
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