From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Jul 09 2003 - 10:23:04 EDT
Weekly report on events in CIS mass media
Issue no. 27 (77), June 30 - July 6, 2003
I. Detentions and Arrests of Journalists
Azerbaijan
AS was reported on July 1, during an unsanctioned rally conducted by the
Democratic Party of Azerbaijan in Baku the police arrested ten rally
participants. Among these people was Yagub Abbasov, editor of the
newspaper Ulus.
II. Legal and Judicial Persecution
Azerbaijan
AS was reported on June 1, the editor's office of the newspaper Eni
Musavat has received a notice from the Justice Ministry. The document
ordered the paper to pay 500 million manates (an equivalent of over
$100,000) to the Azersunholding corporation within five days. The
company filed a lawsuit against the paper last fall and the court ruled
that all the plaintiffs' demands be met, except for closing the paper.
***
The trial of Etibar Mansuroglu, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Etimad,
and Mekhpari Shakhtakhtinsky, editor of the newspaper, has completed.
The criminal case against them was opened based on a lawsuit filed by
Rafik Aliyev, chairman of the State Committee on Religions
Organizations. The journalists were charged with violating Articles 147
and 148 of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan (tarnishing a person's honor,
dignity and business reputation). The court ruled that each of the
defendants should perform 1,5 years of community work and pay 20% of
their monthly incomes to the state. However, the decision has not come
into force due to amnesty.
***
Lieutenant Colonel Uzeir Dzhafarov, a military journalist and an
official with the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, told a news conference
on July 4 that he was experiencing pressure. He said that the Military
Court of the Baku Garrison demands that he write a request for pardon in
order to become eligible for amnesty.
On February 7, the Military Court of the Baku Garrison completed the
hearing of Dzhafarov's case. The sentence stated that the Military
Prosecutor's Office had committed major violations during the
investigation. However, the journalist was sentenced to 3.6 in jail and
was released on parole. Dzhafarov filed numerous appeals and finally
reached the Supreme Court. The journalist said he had been warned that
he could experience pressure in other, less civilized ways.
Kazakhstan
The litigation between the newspaper Assandi-Times and Kazakhstan's
Ambassador to the OSCE Rakhat Aliyev has been completed. On July 4 it
became known that the court ruled that the publisher of the newspaper
(the firm Bastau), the paper's editor-in-chief Irina (an equivalent of
$2,000) each to the plaintiff' Aliytev. In addition, the paper was
ordered to publish a refutation.
III. Other Forms of Pressure on Editor's Offices and Journalists.
Conflicts with the Authorities and Political Organizations
Kazakhstan
On July 2, the police of the town of Rudny, Kustanai region, detained
Adilzhan Kinzhegaleyev when he was distributing the newspapers Assandi
Times and Soz to passers-by. The policemen told Kinzhegaleyev the
newspapers had been printed illegally, which meant that their
distribution was illegal. The man was forced into a police vehicle and
was taken to the Rudny interior affairs department. His request to call
his a lawyer was declined. After that, Kinzhegaleyev was taken to a
sobering-up station, where the police demanded that he state in writing
where the newspapers had come from and why he was distributing them. The
newspapers were confiscated from him and the confiscation protocol was
signed by witnesses, "clients" of the sobering-up station. The detention
lasted for some two hours and Kinzhegaleyev was released only around
11:00 p.m.
***
A conference devoted to the persecution of Ermurat Bapi, former
editor-in-chief of the newspaper SolDat, by the financial police, was
conducted in the National Press Club on July 1. Bapi said he was
supposed to fly to Strasbourg for a hearing in the European Parliament,
but the financial police for Almaty, which are in charge of his case,
refused him permission to temporarily leave Kazakhstan. The decision was
made because Bapi had given his written undertaking not to leave the
country.
Uzbekistan
On July 2, Voice of America journalist Yusuf Rasulov and radio Ozodlik
reporter Khusniddin Kutbiddinov received letters from senior
investigator of the Tashkent interior affairs department Rakhimovsky and
Police Major Kurbanov, which stated that "Criminal Case 9/03 - 10746 has
been suspended until the perpetrators of the crime are identified."
The above-mentioned journalists had their equipment and personal
documents snatched from them by 20 civilians on March 7 not far from the
Tashkent Chorsu market, where Muslim women were protesting the
arbitrariness of the authorities in relation to them and their relatives
who were illegally convicted for their religious beliefs. During the
attack, the journalists sought help from four policemen who were
standing nearby, but instead of helping one of the policemen said: "Beat
them, services them right..." The journalists believe that if the police
does not resolve this crime, they have no guarantees that they and other
journalists will not be attacked in the future.
***
Every week, the Samarkand private television company STV aired the
analytical program Zamon, produced in cooperation with Uzbek non-state
television stations. The international organization Internews provides
considerable help to the stations in the making of this program. The
report on the cancellation of privileges to public sector workers
prepared for Zamon by Samarkand journalist Gayane Oganova shocked the
administration of STV. In that report, the staff of Samarkand Secondary
School 17 expressed their displeasure about the cancellation of benefits
for utilities. The school staff said the compensation provided by the
government is not adequate to the amount of the benefits canceled. The
principal of the school said she fears that the cancellation of the
benefits will result in the deterioration of the quality of teaching and
therefore on the education of children. After seeing this report, STV
Director Gennady Grigoryants called Mukhiba Bobobekova, the head of the
regional department f education, and invited her t o his office.
Grigoryants showed her the report and said that the teachers should not
have discussed a presidential decree, especially with a journalist who
works with an international organization. He accused Bobobekova of not
paying enough attention to the political awareness of teachers, as a
result of which they went against the presidential policy. In his
opinion, that may have a negative impact not only on the people depicted
in the news report, but also on the work on the television company, in
spite of the fact that the Zamon program containing the report was not
aired.
During her meeting with Internews-Uzbekistan journalists in Samarkand,
Bobobekova said she had had no such conversation with Grigoryants. The
principle of the school told journalist Gayane Oganova that the report
misrepresented her words. It should also be noted that she did not see
the material itself. After that, the STV television devoted a separate
talk show on the cancellation of the benefits. For that purpose, the
head of the city department of education and teachers of Samarkand
schools were invited to attend the show. The show host was trying to
make a point that the presidential decree was necessary. Several school
principal later admitted to an Internews journalist that they were
forced to have an oral agreement with Grigoryants after the show.
Grigoryants advised the principals: "If you are approached by
journalists, regardless of how they introduce themselves, consult with
me whether you should talk t them or not. Even if they say they work for
STV. And only after I confirmed that these journalists are mine you can
talk to them." Thus, STV assumed the role of unofficial censors for
Samarkand. When critical materials from Samarkand appeared on the
program, the editor took the show off the air, even if it was on the
television program. In this way, STV violated the contract on the airing
of Zamon. It should be noted that the television company was under the
observation of the republic's prosecutor's office for over four months
last year. According to STV employees, everything was checked: from
financial bills to interview transcripts. And now STV reported shy away
from critical, problem materials on their channels to avoid excessive
attention and not to cause suspicion. After the report, the Zamon
program disappeared from the broadcasting network.
Commentary Prepared by Viktoria Blonskaya, Lawyer with the Center for
Journalism in Extreme Situations
(IV Uzbekistan ) On the basis of the information stated in the report,
it should be said that the actions by the administration of STV
represented by Director Gennady Grigoryants somewhat contradict the such
normative acts of the republic of Uzbekistan as the law On the Mass
Media, the law On the Protection of Professional Activities of
Journalists, and the law On Information.
Was it legal to take the program Zamon, which contained a report on the
cancellation of benefits, off air? Article 3 of the law of the Republic
of Uzbekistan ON the Mass Media stated: "Censorship of the mass media is
not allowed in the Republic of Uzbekistan. No one has the right to
demand preliminary discussion of the reports or material to be published
or a change of the text or their full withdrawal from the print (air)."
It should be noted that Gennady Grigoryants is wrong in saying that
"teachers should not have discussed a presidential decree ..." In fact,
under Article 3 of the law On the Mass Media, "Every person has the
right to speak in the mass media and to openly express his or her
opinions and convictions."
It is also said in the report that STV employees "shy away from critical
materials to avoid excessive attention from the law enforcement
agencies." In fact, Article 6 the law On the Mass Media states: "The
mass media cannot be used for calling for a forcible change of the
existing constitutional system, the territorial integrity of the
Republic of Uzbekistan. The propaganda of war and violence, cruelty,
national, racial and religious feud, disclosure of a state secret or a
different secret protected y the state, and other actions that entail
criminal liability. It is forbidden to use the mass media to tarnish the
honor and dignity of citizens and interfere in their private life. It is
forbidden to publish materials relating to a preliminary investigation
without written permission from the prosecutor or investigator and to
disclose a source that provided information on condition of anonymity
(except when the court demands that such a source be disclosed).
Thus, the information that cannot be distributed is clearly described.
In our opinion, in this case the journalist who was censored should go
to court.
Type of Event Number of Cases
Attacks on journalists 1 - Georgia
2 - Ukraine
Journalists killed
Detentions and arrests of journalists
Legal and judicial persecution of journalists 1 - Armenia
3 - Belarus
3 - Kyrgyzstan
1 - Ukraine
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 1 - Azerbaijan/Armenia/Karabakh
1 - Kazakhstan
1 - Uzbekistan
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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