From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu Feb 26 2004 - 08:18:13 EST
Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations
www.cjes.ru
Weekly bulletin of events in CIS mass media
Issue No. 8 (110), February 16 - 22, 2004
I. Attacks and Threats against Journalists
Uzbekistan
Matlyuba Azamatova, a BBC reporter in the Fergana Valley, was threatened
by a deputy director of a village school in the Akramabad, Kuvinsky
district of the Fergana region, on February 17. The journalist was near
the school during a rally organized by forty teachers protesting the
arbitrariness of the school principle, who has established a tough
regime and surveillance of teachers. The principle demanded that the
journalist not take any notes or photographs of the rally. The
journalist had to leave the rally after the atmosphere heated up and the
officials from the authorities came to the school.
II. Lawsuits against Journalists
Azerbaijan
The Sabail District Court of Baku on February 16 completed the trial of
the lawsuit filed by the television company ANS against the newspaper
Azadlyg. The lawsuit was filed over the article entitled Reports from
Gestapo (published on October 22, 2003), which dealt with a report aired
by ANS featuring Igbal Agazade, leader of the party Umid, giving
evidence in the Interior Ministry's department for the prevention of
organized crime. In that publication, ANS was called a
"pro-governmental" channel having "no relation to Azerbaijan." The
plaintiff was seeking to recover 100 million and 50 million manates from
the paper and from the author of the publication, respectively. The
court partially upheld her lawsuit, ordering the paper to pay 40 million
manates and the author 8 million manates.
Armenia
The chairman of the Economic Court has upheld the challenge of Judge
Karen Chilingaryan submitted by a representative of the National
Commission on Television and Radio (NKTR), a February 17 news report
says. The reason for the challenge was that Chilingaryan rejected
NKTR's request submitted during the trial of a lawsuit filed by the
television A1+ , which filed a lawsuit six months ago asking the court
to order NKTR to give written explanations of the reasons for the
revocation of its broadcasting license.
Georgia
The Tbilisi office of the independent television company Iberia was
searched on February 19. The search warrant was issued by Georgian
Prosecutor General Irakly Okruashvili. Searches were also conducted in
the information agency Media-News, newspaper Akhali Epokha, magazine
Omega, and other commercial structures included in the Omega-group. All
these media outlets are owned by opposition parliamentarians Nato
Chkheidze and Zaza Okuashvili.
Omega-group is Georgia's largest importer of cigarettes and tobacco
products. Law enforcement officials have said they have found equipment
used for printing fake excise stamps in the Iberia office. However, no
evidence was presented to the company. Lyuba Eliashvili, the head of
Iberia's information programs, told reporters she believes the search is
an act of intimidation.
Kazakhstan
The executive committee of the Republican People's Party of Kazakhstan
(RPPK) has expressed concern about the situation in the Atyrau region,
where the authorities and the law enforcement agencies have intensified
pressure on the opposition and independent mass media. Among other
people, pressure is being put on Zhumabai Dospanov (chairman of the RPPK
regional council and publisher of the independent newspaper Altyn Gasyr)
and Ibatulla Satenuly (chairman of the Isatai regional council of RPPK).
Bakhyt Mendygaliyev, a former member of RPPK, filed lawsuits against
Dospanov and Satenuly with the Atyrau City Court on January 23, 2004
under pressure from the special services, claiming 1 million tenge in
compensation for moral damages. On February 28, he asked the regional
prosecutor's office to "take measures" against Dospanov and Satenuly. At
the same time, Mendygaliyev failed to appear for both hearings of those
cases held in the Atyrau City Court on February 10 and 13. Specialists
from the International foundation for the protection of the freedom of
speech Adil Soz examined these lawsuits and came to the conclusion that
the defendants are absolutely innocent.
On February 18, officials from the criminal investigations department of
the Isatai regional interior affairs department came to the Altyn Gasyr
editorial board and took Satenuly with them to investigate a cattle
theft case. The officials did not introduce themselves and promised to
bring him back to Atyrau by 7:00 p.m. However, they did not do that. The
next day, Satenuly was supposed to approve the next edition of the paper
for printing and to give a speech at the Congress of Kazakh Journalists
on the violation of the rights of journalists and independent mass media
in the Atyrau region.
III. Other Forms of Pressure on Editorial Boards and Journalists.
Conflicts with the Authorities and Political Organizations
Georgia
The staff of the television company Kutaisi on February 19 conducted a
rally protesting the decision of the Kutaisi mayor's office to demand
that the company administration pay its debt for the lease of its
building ($10,000). The building is property of the city and the
television company has never paid the lease yet. Now that the
administration has changed the new authorities want to recover the debt
form the company.
The journalists believe the administration is trying to liquidating the
media it cannot control and is acting on the orders of David Mumladze,
the president's envoy in the region.
IV. Restriction of Access to Information
Georgia
Georgian presidential press secretary Giorgy Arveladze announced his
resignation on February 17. Since then, journalists have been barred
from accessing all the premises of the State Chancellery except for the
first three floors (special passes are required to access all areas
located above the third floor). The State Chancellor's Office said this
decision was made because journalists had picketed not only the
corridors of the building, but also the elevators, which complicated the
work of the government.
Uzbekistan
Tulkin Karayev, a reporter with the Institute of War & Peace Reporting
(IWPR), contacted the morals department of the interior affairs
department of the Kashkadarya region on February 16 requesting
information about the spread of AIDS and child prostitution in the
region. However, the department staff refused to meet with the
journalist, citing the absence of the head of the department. Among
other things, the department's inspector Salim Dzhabbarov told Karayev
in a phone conversation that journalists are required to obtain
permission from the higher authorities to get into the interior affairs
department. The same thing happened when Karayev visited the interior
affairs department of the town of Karshi. Fakhritdin Akhmedov, the head
of the Karshi morals department, met with him, but would not talk about
specific facts relating to AIDS and child prostitution, citing the need
to obtain permission from Gafur Yuldashev, deputy head of the Karshi
interior affairs department. Yuldashev refused to meet with the
journalist.
Type of Event Number of Cases
Attacks on journalists 1 - Uzbekistan
Fatalities among Journalists
Detentions and arrests of journalists
Lawsuits against journalists 1 - Azerbaijan
1 - Armenia
4 - Belarus
2 - Georgia
1 - Kazakhstan
1 - Ukraine
Other kinds of pressure on editorial boards and journalists. Conflicts
with the administration and political organizations 2 - Belarus
2 - Georgia
3 - Ukraine
Restriction of access to information 1 - Georgia
1 - Uzbekistan
2 - Ukraine
Missing journalists
Oleg Panfilov
director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations
phone/fax: +7 095 201-7626
address:room 320, 4 Zubovsky blv.Moscow 119021 Russia panfilov@cjes.ru
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