(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has strongly protested over a Russian court’s 7 October 2003 decision to uphold a one-year forced labour sentence against journalist German Galkin for libelling local officials in the Urals. The decision to confirm an earlier sentence handed down on 15 August was taken by the Kalininsky District Court, in the Cheliabinsk region. […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has strongly protested over a Russian court’s 7 October 2003 decision to uphold a one-year forced labour sentence against journalist German Galkin for libelling local officials in the Urals.
The decision to confirm an earlier sentence handed down on 15 August was taken by the Kalininsky District Court, in the Cheliabinsk region.
“The sentence at the first hearing was shocking, but it could have been seen simply as a warning. Confirming this sentence on appeal shows that the judicial system really wants German Galkin to serve such a sentence, which is completely unacceptable,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
The organisation has urged German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder to voice his dismay over the case during his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the central Urals town of Yekaterinburg on 8 and 9 October. He has also been asked to raise the issue of the risks facing Russian journalists because of penal code articles that provide for prison sentences for libel.
Galkin, who is deputy editor-in-chief of the daily “Vecherny Cheliabinsk”, editor of the weekly “Rabochaya Gazeta” and head of the local branch of the opposition Liberal Russia Party, was first sentenced on 15 August.
He was accused under Article 129-2 and 130 of the Russian Federation’s penal code for libelling Konstantin Bochkarev and Andreï Kosilov, two deputy governors of Cheliabinsk.
Kosilov filed suit in June 2002 following the publication of three articles in “Rabochaya Gazeta” that accused Governor Piotr Sumin and his aides of embezzlement. The three articles were entitled “The Real Sumin” (16 April 2002), “Government Patience” (8 February 2002) and “Sumin’s Health” (12 February 2002).
Galkin frequently criticised local officials and Governor Sumin in his articles and was physically assaulted in front of his Cheliabinsk home on 14 June 2002.
Article 130 of the criminal code says libel can be punished by up to one year of hard labour. Article 129 provides for a jail term of up to three years for the offense.
