Correspondents attacked, radio station threatened with closure

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply troubled by a recent series of attacks against correspondents from Radio Lemma in Vladivostok, as well as by efforts on the part of regional and municipal authorities to shut down the popular independent radio station. The attacks started shortly after Radio Lemma began broadcasting investigative reports about Vostoktranslot, the largest […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply troubled by a recent series of attacks against
correspondents from Radio Lemma in Vladivostok, as well as by efforts on the
part of regional and municipal authorities to shut down the popular
independent radio station.

The attacks started shortly after Radio Lemma began broadcasting
investigative reports about Vostoktranslot, the largest refrigerated
shipping line in the region. The attacks began on 29 June 1999, when three
unidentified men assaulted Yuri Stepanov, a Radio Lemma correspondent, near
his apartment building. Stepanov was attacked soon after airing his third
interview with the company’s former director, Anatoly Milashevich, who
accused the regional governor, Yevgeniy
Nazdratenko, of sacking him after he refused to donate US$2 million to his
campaign fund.

Stepanov was walking home at 10:30 p.m. (local time) when he was ambushed by
three individuals who jumped out of a mini-van and began beating him. After
he fell to the ground, one of the men kicked him in the chest and stomach,
and tried to drag him into the vehicle. Stepanov managed to escape. He was
hospitalized briefly and spent nearly a month recuperating from injuries
that included three broken ribs and a cracked skull.

Local authorities have charged Milashevich himself with mishandling the
company’s finances as its manager. Station managers told CPJ that only days
before Stepanov’s assault, Vladivostok Mayor Yuriy Kopylev ordered Radio
Lemma to stop broadcasting interviews with opponents of the local
administration. Valeriy Moravyov, the station’s general director, told CPJ
that he believes the attacks are part of an effort to silence Radio Lemma.
The station is one of the few independent media in the Primorye region,
where fear of retaliation has prompted many media outlets to seek prior
approval from local officials before running controversial reports.

The attack on Stepanov is part of a clear pattern of attacks and harassment
against Radio Lemma. Other recent incidents include:

On 6 July, two unidentified men forced station director Valeriy Moravyov’s
20-year old daughter into a car while she was walking to work. The two men
ordered her to tell her father to “mind his own business,” then released
her. The young woman filed a complaint with the local police. Five days
later, she received an anonymous phone call at work ordering her to withdraw
her complaint, which she refused to do. The police closed the case
themselves, claiming they lacked sufficient evidence to pursue it any
further.

On 15 July, a local building management company shut off the electricity at
Radio Lemma’s city-owned studios. Citing unpaid bills, the company ordered
all staff to vacate the premises by the end of August. Although power was
restored after station managers provided proof that they had paid all the
bills, the eviction notice still stood at the end of August.

On 31 August, the regional commission for the Federal TV and Radio Service
(FSRT) issued a formal warning to Radio Lemma that their broadcast license
would be revoked if they failed to broadcast twenty-four hours a day, as
specified in their license agreement. The station is on the air daily from 7
a.m. until midnight. Station managers say the agreement does not in fact
specify that they must broadcast around the clock. A second warning
automatically leads to revocation of their license.

Recommended Action

His Excellency Boris Yeltsin

President of the Russian Federation

The Kremlin

Moscow, Russia

Fax: + 7 095 206 5173 / 206 6277

E-mail: president@gov.ru