From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Sep 03 2003 - 13:35:29 EDT
Weekly report on events in CIS mass media
Issue no. 35 (75), August 25-31, 2003
I. Lawsuits against Journalists
Azerbaijan
The non-governmental organization Imdad-SOS, which is carrying out an
anti-AIDS program, has filed a lawsuit with the Nariman District Court
of Baku, an August 25 news report says. Imdad-SOS alleges that
journalists have illegally accused it of misappropriating $80,000 and
plagiarizing books by foreign authors. The plaintiff is seeking to
recover $70 from the paper in compensation for the damage done to it.
Kazakhstan
On August 27, Sergei Palchak, senior investigator with the
Investigations Department of the Almaty Financial Police Department,
brought criminal charges against Ermurat Bapi, editor-in-chief of the
independent newspaper SolDAT. Bapi was charged with false
entrepreneurship, violation of accounting rules, and tax evasion.
Kyrgyzstan
The Zhalalabat City Court has began considering the lawsuit filed by T.
Abdullayev, chief doctor of the Bazarkorgon region's Family Medicine
Center, against the newspaper Fergana and the bulletin Pravo dlya Vsekh,
an August 31 news report says. These publications have published
critical articles about the plaintiff's work and violations of the labor
legislation. The article was prepared by Azimzhan Askarov, a human
rights activist. The material entitled Sanden po-Bazarkurganski was
published by the two publications simultaneously. Fergana's
editor-in-chief Bakyt Orunbekov said that, in accordance with the
legislation, the paper had offered to publish the plaintiff's opinion,
but he refused that offer and filed a lawsuit instead. The litigation
will continue on September 2.
II. Other Forms of Pressure on Editorial Boards and Journalists.
Conflicts with the Authorities and Political Organizations
Azerbaijan
The Gabalin region's newspaper Gurd Gapysy (which translates as "Wolves'
Gates) says it is experiencing pressure from the local executive
authorities, an August 25 news report says. Since August 14, all the
copies of the newspaper have been confiscated by the police, which cite
orders from the head of the executive administration. Metleb Gasanli,
the paper's editor-in-chief and chairman of the local department of the
National Democratic Party, believes that these actions are connected
with the newspaper's party affiliation. The thing is that Iskender
Gamidov, the founder of the newspaper, who is also a former interior
minister of Azerbaijan, is now a political prisoner and is serving time
in jail. Gasanli said the police have promised that he would "follow in
the footsteps of" Gamidov.
***
The Baku tax police have confiscated 200 copies of the last (August 20)
edition of the independent magazine Monitor, an August 25 news report
says. The magazine's editor-in-chief, Elmar Guseinov, said he sees that
as an attack on his publication.
***
Elmur Sadygov, a journalist with the newspaper Azadlyg, has been
expelled from Gyandzha University, where he was a student, an August 25
news report says. Sadynov was told that he was expelled because of his
administrative arrest in the Dashkesan region in June, when he was
sentenced to seven days in jail on "petty hooliganism" charges. The
paper's editorial board believes that arrest is connected to a serious
of materials on corruption in the local executive administration the
paper has recently published.
Georgia
The Georgian Election Commission on August 26 approved a decree banning
the mass media from covering any politicians' and political parties'
activities in the course of 50 days preceding the parliamentarian
elections (which are scheduled for November 2). The only exception is
advertising and election canvassing materials run by television
channels. The opposition and experts see this decree as an attempt to
limit the freedom of the mass media and political activities.
Kazakhstan
The Karaganda maslikhat (executive authority) has sent a letter to the
administration of TV ART, in which it officially states that it is
refusing to sign a contract for preparing programs on the work of the
local maslikhat with the company, an August 27 news report says. The
reason for this refusal is that some officials doubt that TV ART is
capable of broadcasting its programs to the entire Karaganda region. The
prosecutor's office has conducted a probe into these claims.
***
The August 21 session of the Karaganda akimat began with a scandal, an
August 27 news report says. The city's Mayor Yury Litvinov and chief
architect Kairat Dzhiyenbayev got into a conflict with Sergei
Tereshchenko, a journalist with the newspaper Novy Vestnik, right in the
meeting room. The conflict was over an article published by Novy Vestnik
and a photograph published on the paper's front page. The article dealt
with a poster, which was placed on the front part of a Karaganda
building by people working in that building. The poster urged the city's
mayor to help renovate the building and said that if no renovation was
done in the near future, the building would collapse on the road and the
heads of the people of Karaganda. He local authorities had the poster
removed as soon as possible, but a Novy Vestnik photojournalist managed
to take a picture of it. The unique photograph was published on the
front page of the paper and spoiled the mood of the city administration.
Uzbekistan
Sutra Ikramov, a human rights activist and the head of the Initiative
Group of Independent Human Rights Activists of Uzbekistan, who has
recently been heavily involved in protecting convicted journalist Ruslan
Sharipov, was kidnapped and beaten in Tashkent on August 28. Ikramov was
kidnapped by a group of four masked people dressed in camouflage in the
Kuk-cha area of Tashkent around 10:30 a.m. local time. The attackers
dragged Ikramov out of his car, bound his hands and feet, put a plastic
bag over his head, and drove him away in an unknown direction. He said
the kidnappers beat him the whole time and tightened the plastic bag on
his head, depriving him of oxygen, when he tried to all for help. The
attackers took Ikramov to the countryside, where they got him out of the
car and continued beating him with their feet and sticks. They left at
midday, leaving him lying at the scene with his hands and feet bound and
with a plastic bag over his head. Ikramov managed to get the plastic bag
off his head and crawl to a nearby police station. Surgeons from the
Tashkent First Aid Center diagnosed Ikramov with two broken ribs, a
concussion, and numerous bruises.
Ikramov believes that attack is directly connected to his human rights
activities, including his protection of journalist Ruslan Sharipov, who
has recently been sentenced to 5.5 years in jail. The day before the
attack, Judge Ganisher Makhmudov warned Ikramov against getting involved
in the Sharipov case. The human rights activist also ties the attack to
the picket in front of the Uzbek parliament, where a group of human
rights activists intended to demand the release of Ruslan Sharipov and
the resignation of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. The picket was
scheduled to take place August 29.
Type of Event Number of Cases
Attacks on journalists
Journalists killed
Detentions and arrests of journalists
Lawsuits against journalists 1 - Azerbaijan
1 -Belarus
1 - Kazakhstan
1 - Kyrgyzstan
Other kinds of pressure on editorial boards and journalists. Conflicts
with the administration and political organizations 2 - Azerbaijan
1 - Belarus
1 - Belarus/Russia
2 - Kyrgyzstan
3 - Moldova
1 - Uzbekistan
3 - Ukraine
Restriction of access to information 2 -Azerbaijan
1 - Belarus
1 - Georgia
2 - Kazakhstan
1 - Uzbekistan
2 - Ukraine
Missing journalists
Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations
4 Zubovsky Boulevard, Moscow 119021, Russia
phone: (+ 7 095) 201-7626; 201-3550 comm. 124
fax: (+ 7 095) 201-7626
e-mail: center@cjes.ru
Web site: www.cjes.ru
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