(CJES/IFEX) – The editorial staff of the newspaper “Permsky Obozrevatel” (“Permian Observer”), based in the city of Perm, has announced that the newspaper is facing the possible threat of closure and expressed its concern for the future of its employees. Acting editor-in-chief Ms. Tatyana Sokolova explained to CJES that staff faces constant pressure from law […]
(CJES/IFEX) – The editorial staff of the newspaper “Permsky Obozrevatel” (“Permian Observer”), based in the city of Perm, has announced that the newspaper is facing the possible threat of closure and expressed its concern for the future of its employees. Acting editor-in-chief Ms. Tatyana Sokolova explained to CJES that staff faces constant pressure from law enforcement bodies, making it difficult to conduct their daily work.
“Permsky Obozrevatel”, founded by the “Alpha” group of security enterprises, is the only independent and oppositional newspaper in the region. The “Alpha” media group also runs the websites “Permian Neighbors” and “Non-secretly”.
Local authorities dislike the editorial policy of the newspaper, which writes critically on important regional officials. As Sokolova informed CJES, the pressure on the newspaper began toward the end of 2005.
“At that time, the local administration of the Perm region issued a private order forbidding the distribution of ‘Permsky Obozrevatel’ through city networks, and we were forced to adapt our system of distribution. In March, all the printing houses in the Perm region refused to continue cooperation with ‘Permsky Obozrevatel’. The newspaper now has to be printed in another region, which increases our costs. In May, local journalist Ms. Irina Kolushchinskaja, who works in the regional governor’s office, filed a complaint with the police saying that she was offended by material posted in the forum of the ‘Non-secretly’ website. On 18 May, the Department of Internal Affairs of Perm initiated legal action under clause 130 on slander, without conducting a preliminary investigation. It is strange that now that an investigation has begun, it is being conducted by the section of the Department of Internal Affairs that deals with economic crimes,” Sokolova stated.
On 25 May, the Police Special Forces (OMON) broke into the offices of “Alpha”, where the editorial office of “Permsky Obozrevatel'” is also located. They conducted a search and seized some computer equipment.
Mr. Igor Grinberg, owner of “Alpha” and founder of “Permsky Obozrevatel”, informed CJES that “the servers were removed in a way involving serious legal infringements. For example, the input/output ports and disk drives were not sealed up, so access to the computers was absolutely unhindered. We know copies have been made from the servers. The court recently recognized that this seizure was illegal. A subsequent search of the offices took place on August 2, conducted by some armed personnel and the officers of the local FSB [Federal Security Service] branch. Almost all electronic data carriers (including employees’ personal diskettes and flash-cards) were seized. The officers even took away personal photos that employees kept on their desktops. We were told that some information concerning state secrets was found during the first search, on May 25.”
The search was undertaken under Article 283 of the Penal Code, which concerns the disclosure of state secrets.
Grinberg also told CJES that he was summoned to the Perm FSB office. “I had a very strange conversation with the examining magistrate there. He asked me: ‘Do you have any information relating to state secrets on your computers?’ I replied to him: ‘At least show me what we have hidden on them that you consider to be so awful.’ ‘We cannot, because that is also a state secret’, the investigator replied. ‘Then what we are talking about in this case?’ was my question. And they answered me with something like: ‘We know that you know what we know’.”
Sokolova added, “Pressure on the employees of the newspaper continues. They are constantly summoned before the Public Prosecutor’s Office as witnesses. Neither holidays nor publication days are taken into account. We think that all this is being done with the intent of putting psychological pressure upon our journalists.”
In Grinberg’s opinion, his newspaper and other media businesses are under pressure because “there are no other newspapers disloyal to authority in Perm, and ‘Permsky Obozrevatel’ is very popular. As well, the regional Legislative Assembly elections will be conducted in December, and this independent newspaper represents a serious threat to those running who wish to hide the truth. I associate the massive attacks on us with this fact.”
