(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 1 August 2000 letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, CPJ expressed its deep concern over the arrest of Vladivostok journalist Irina Grebneva, editor of the opposition weekly “Arsenyevskiye Vesti”. Grebneva was released on 1 August after a five-day detention imposed in retaliation for publishing telephone transcripts that appeared to implicate senior […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 1 August 2000 letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, CPJ expressed its deep concern over the arrest of Vladivostok journalist Irina Grebneva, editor of the opposition weekly “Arsenyevskiye Vesti”. Grebneva was released on 1 August after a five-day detention imposed in retaliation for publishing telephone transcripts that appeared to implicate senior political figures in Primorye Territory in political corruption.
On 27 July, a court in Vladivostok, the administrative center of Primorye Territory, found Grebneva guilty of “petty hooliganism” and sentenced her to five days in prison. The journalist was taken into custody straight from the courtroom, and was not permitted to appeal the court’s ruling.
According to CPJ’s Vladivostok sources, the local prosecutor’s office filed hooliganism charges against Grebneva after the 20 July issue of “Arsenyevskiye Vesti” ran transcripts of telephone conversations attributed to Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko, his deputy Konstantin Tolstoshein, and newly-elected Vladivostok mayor Yury Kopylov. The transcripts suggested that the three officials had conspired in efforts to tamper with the results of the 18 June mayoral elections.
The transcripts were originally introduced as evidence in a 10 July court hearing during which losing mayoral candidate Viktor Cherepkov argued that the election had been rigged in Kopylov’s favor.
Grebneva, 57, began a hunger strike immediately after her sentence was pronounced. During her five days in prison, the editor was not allowed to see her attorney or any other visitors, except for her doctor.
Despite the local court’s ruling, Grebneva’s attorney Yevgeny Korovin appealed the imprisonment sentence to a higher court, which upheld it on 31 July. In an interview that same day with the radio station Ekho Moskvy, Korovin promised to file an appeal with the European Court for Human Rights.
This is not the first time that “Arsenyevskiye Vesti” and other independent media in the region have come under attack from local authorities. Over eight years of its existence, according to CPJ’s local sources, the paper has been sued at least thirty times, all by local government officials. The paper has also been denied access to the state printing service on at least fifteen occasions, most recently in June.
During the November 1999 gubernatorial elections, according to Radio Free Europe, Governor Nazdratenko shut the offices of the independent radio station Lemma and also forced out the editor of the independent newspaper “Moskovskiy Komsomolets vo Vladivostoke”, considered by local officials to be too critical of the regional administration.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– noting that democracy cannot flourish if journalists cannot inform the public about
official breaches of public trust
– condemning the Primorye government’s blatant attempts to suppress independent
journalism in the territory
– calling on him to ensure that all Russian officials refrain from jailing and otherwise harassing journalists for their work
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:His Excellency Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
Fax: +7 095 206 5173 / 206 6277Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
