(CJES/IFEX) – Vladimir Voloshin, editor-in-chief of the Salekhard newspaper “Krasny Sever”, and Pavel Razuvayev, a journalist with the newspaper, have been forced to resign. They resigned shortly after the elections to the Yamal region’s parliament, which were held on 28 March 2007. According to Razuvayev, the journalists were asked to resign by officials from the […]
(CJES/IFEX) – Vladimir Voloshin, editor-in-chief of the Salekhard newspaper “Krasny Sever”, and Pavel Razuvayev, a journalist with the newspaper, have been forced to resign. They resigned shortly after the elections to the Yamal region’s parliament, which were held on 28 March 2007.
According to Razuvayev, the journalists were asked to resign by officials from the information department of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. “Soon after the elections, the paper ran my article in which I analyzed the election process. The article stated that the elections had been won by the current administration, which was not even concerned by the low voter turnout. Vladimir Voloshin was told the authorities did not like the article and we were asked to resign of our own accord, which we finally had to do,” Razuvayev told CJES.
Razuvayev said Voloshin is now a pensioner and he himself is having trouble getting a job in the city, due to interference by the authorities. “I have tried to get a job in the magazine ‘Yamalsky meridian’, the newspaper ‘Severyane’, and ‘Argumenty i Fakty’ (northern division), but they refused to hire me. Even the advertising newspaper ‘Ryady’ has refused to take me on. My colleagues have told me confidentially that an official from the information department has called the editors of all local newspapers and asked them not to hire me. And the situation in the district is such that the media don’t want to get into a conflict with the local authorities because they are afraid of losing their financial support,” said Razuvayev.
The journalist says he intends to become self-employed by opening his own publication.
