(WiPC/IFEX) – Nikolai Andrushchenko, co-founder and editor of the newspaper “Novy Peterburg”, was initially sentenced to two months’ pre-trial detention on charges of defamation and was due for release on 21 March 2008. However, it has been reported that his preliminary detention was prolonged by two more months. WiPC protests the extended detention as a […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – Nikolai Andrushchenko, co-founder and editor of the newspaper “Novy Peterburg”, was initially sentenced to two months’ pre-trial detention on charges of defamation and was due for release on 21 March 2008. However, it has been reported that his preliminary detention was prolonged by two more months. WiPC protests the extended detention as a violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Andrushchenko was initially sentenced to two months of pre-trial detention on charges of defamation and obstruction of justice on 24 November 2007. However he was not freed on expiry of the sentence, and instead sent to a psychiatric institution. Following that, his detention was extended further until after the March Russian Presidential elections. PEN has since learned that the term has been extended yet again and this will not expire until late May.
