(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the relentless harassment of the independent daily “Moya Stolitsa-Novosti” by means of libel suits by government officials, which forced editor-in-chief Alexander Kim to announce the newspaper’s closure on 11 June 2003, because of bankruptcy. The paper had been ordered to pay more than 77,000 euros (approx. US$90,700) in damages and […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the relentless harassment of the independent daily “Moya Stolitsa-Novosti” by means of libel suits by government officials, which forced editor-in-chief Alexander Kim to announce the newspaper’s closure on 11 June 2003, because of bankruptcy. The paper had been ordered to pay more than 77,000 euros (approx. US$90,700) in damages and fines in the course of 31 lawsuits over the past two years.
“This closure is a result of a deliberate effort by the authorities to gag the newspaper, because it was in the habit of denouncing corruption cases implicating the president’s associates,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard explained. “No one should be fooled by the pseudo-legal methods used: it was a clear case of censorship in a country that poses as the ‘good student’ of Central Asia with regard to press freedom,” Ménard added.
Two of the convictions that helped bankrupt the paper arose from complaints filed by Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev. The prime minister claimed he was libelled in a 2 April article on by Mikhaïl Korsunsky, the head of a coalition of non-governmental organisations, who accused him of embezzling public health funds. The case concluded with a Bishkek court fining “Moya Stolitsa-Novosti” 9,500 euros (approx. US$11,200) on 3 June.
Previously, on 25 April, the same court fined the newspaper 9,500 euros because of a 26 November 2002 article by journalist Rina Prizhivoit in which she accused close aides of the president, including the prime minister, of bringing shame on the country through their actions.
“Moya Stolitsa-Novosti” was also fined 9,500 euros on 13 March following a complaint by Merliside, a company run by the president’s son-in-law, Adil Toygonbaev. The company filed its complaint after the publication of an article by journalist Larissa Li in 2002 in which it was accused of tax fraud. State Ombudsman Tursubai Bakir uulu appealed the court’s ruling to the Supreme Court on 9 June on the grounds that it was unfounded.
“Moya Stolitsa-Novosti” had ceased publishing since 23 May, when the authorities went to the Uchkun state printing house and confiscated 15,000 copies of an issue that included articles about the president’s son-in-law and the judicial harassment campaign against the paper. The confiscation was ordered by a Bishkek court on the grounds of non-payment of several fines, including those imposed in the cases involving the prime minister and Merliside. The court also ordered the seizure of the newspaper’s property and the freezing of its assets.
