Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations

(CJES/IFEX) – The Investigations Department of the Russian prosecutor’s office of the Republic of Tatarstan has brought charges against Irek Murtazin, former head of the Tatarstan president’s press service. Murtazin is charged with slander, invading the privacy of Tatarstan’s President Mintimer Shaimiyev and fanning hatred and a feud via the mass media. A criminal case […]

(CJES/IFEX) – Mikhail Beketov, an environmental journalist and editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Khimkimskaya Pravda”, has been assaulted. The journalist sustained multiple fractures and a serious head injury. He is currently hospitalised in critical condition. “The doctors are doing everything to save his life. Beketov suffered serious injuries, including a head injury. He is unconscious,” a […]

(CJES/IFEX) – On 10 October 2008, the Ufa Oktyabrsky District Court issued a ruling in the defamation lawsuit filed by Justice Rosa Gilyazitdinova against the newspaper “Chas Pik. Na Magistrali”. The court ordered the newspaper to refute information contained in the article “Lessons of Courtesy” and apologise to Gilyazitdinova, chair of the Arbitration Court of […]

(CJES/IFEX) – The newspaper “Arsenyevskiye Vesti” has received an official warning from the prosecutor’s office of the Vladivostok Frunzensky district, which accused it of disseminating materials containing elements of extremism. The warning was issued over an article entitled “One Nation – One Constitution” published in the 3-9 September 2008 edition of “Arsenyevskiye Vesti”. The article […]

(CJES/IFEX) – The Kostroma Sverdlovsky District Court has granted a lawsuit filed by journalist Anna Skudayeva against the Russian Interior Ministry claiming her April 2007 detention was illegal. In the early hours of 14 April 2007, the Kostroma police pulled over two buses carrying 64 people to Moscow. Some passengers were going to Moscow to […]

(CJES/IFEX) – The Saratov Regional Court has reversed a sentence issued by a first instance court and a court of appeals against Salimzhan Gaisin, the deputy editor-in-chief of the “Saratovsky Reporter” newspaper. Gaisan was sentenced to 180 hours of community work on a charge of “slander in the mass media”. In September 2007, a criminal […]

(CJES/IFEX) – Stanislav Glukhov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Khabarovsky Express”, has been convicted of slander (a crime under Article 129 of the Russian Criminal Code), for disseminating false information and defaming Dmitry Rozenkov, a member of the local parliament. The court found that Glukhov knowingly allowed the publication of false information on Rozenkov in the […]

(CJES/IFEX) – A criminal case has been filed against journalist Rimma Urazbakhtina, of the “Chas Pik. Na Magistrali” newspaper, in connection with her article “Uroki Vezhlivosti” (Lessons in Courtesy). The journalist is facing charges of violating Article 129 of the Russian Criminal Code (slander contained in a public statement in a media publication) and Article […]

(CJES/IFEX) – The criminal case against Andrei Dumler, the head of the information agency Baikal Media Consulting (BMK), has been thrown out of court. The journalist was charged with slandering the department of the Federal Service for the Enforcement of Punishments (UFSIN) for the Republic of Buryatia. In November 2007, a report entitled “Money Vanishes […]

(CJES/IFEX) – Salimzhan Gaisin, deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Saratovsky Reporter”, has been found guilty of a crime under Article 129 of the Russian Criminal Code (for “Slander in the Mass Media”). In summer 2007, a group of residents in the village of Bulgakovka, located in the Voskresensk district of Saratov region, complained to “Saratovsky […]

(CJES/IFEX) – A criminal case has been opened against Andrei Dumler, the head of a Russian media outlet, who is charged with violating Article 129 of the Russian Criminal Code (which deals with libel). In November 2007, a report entitled “Money Vanishes at Noon” was published on the website of the information agency Baikal Media […]

(CJES/IFEX) – An Internet provider in Kirov region has blocked access to the website of the newspaper “Vyatsky Nablyudatel” at the request of the local law enforcement agencies. The decision was made over a comment posted on the paper’s website, which law enforcement agencies found to be defamatory to a regional government official. Hosting Systems, […]

(CJES/IFEX) – Grigory Belonuchkin, a parliamentary reporter with the publishing center Panorama, was beaten up in the city of Dolgoprudny, in the Moscow region, during the early hours of 2 April 2008. Before the attack the journalist received two phone calls from a person who threatened him in connection with a lawsuit he had filed […]

(CJES/IFEX) – Alexei Kalganov and Viktor Demenev, journalists with the newspaper “Leninskaya Smena”, have been charged with slandering a law enforcement officer. The case against the journalists was opened over a publication run by “Leninskaya Smena” in April 2007, which dealt with a car accident involving Andrei Smirnov, prosecutor of the Shatkovsky district of Nizhny […]

(CJES/IFEX) – The Lipetsk region’s prosecutors on 4 March 2008 ruled criminal proceedings are to be opened against Nikolai Sokolov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Fakty s Argumentami”, under Article 319 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, pertaining to “insulting an authority.” Previously, a criminal case was opened against Sokolov under Article 129 of […]

(CJES/IFEX) – Criminal charges for “libel disseminated by a mass medium”, a violation under Article 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, have been filed against Nikolai Sokolov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Fakty s Argumentami”. The libel charges were brought against the journalist on the basis of a statement made by Viktor Sokovykh, […]