(CJES/IFEX) – On the morning of 18 April 2006, a news crew of the regional television company TV-21, comprised of journalist Dmitriy Sergeev and cameraman Valeriy Gavel, was detained in the city of Kola. The journalists were preparing a television story on the Russian president’s plenipotentiary envoy Ilya Klebanov and his visit to Murmansk. Svetlana […]
(CJES/IFEX) – On the morning of 18 April 2006, a news crew of the regional television company TV-21, comprised of journalist Dmitriy Sergeev and cameraman Valeriy Gavel, was detained in the city of Kola. The journalists were preparing a television story on the Russian president’s plenipotentiary envoy Ilya Klebanov and his visit to Murmansk.
Svetlana Soldatova, a producer for the television company, informed CJES that the incident took place at a district hospital that Klebanov was planning to visit, as he wanted to familiarize himself with the implementation of the “Health Welfare” national project in the region. The TV-21 crew arrived at the hospital several hours before Klebanov’s visit. “The journalists were accredited and they had the relevant documents, however a plain-clothed man, who approached and did not introduce himself, ordered them to stop filming. When the journalists refused to do so, he instructed the staff of the Kola district Internal Affairs Branch to detain the crew. The journalists were taken to the District Branch of Internal Affairs (ROVD). No one told them anything about the reasons for the arrest. Police officers said that at the request of the federal security service the entire footage had to be erased since the filming that was done by the journalists might reveal some sensitive information about the work of the security service. The journalists refused. The television crew was held for about two hours in the police department,” Soldatova said.
The producer telephoned Pyotr Yudin, Deputy Head of the Internal Affairs Department of the Murmansk region, for an explanation, but the latter replied that the police were following the instructions of the federal security service.
Soldatova said that after the journalists were released, Kola ROVD representative Major Ivanovskiy arrived at the television company’s editorial office and demanded that the footage be erased. He referred to the federal security service’s demand, saying that the police had to obey that service.
Soldatova also said that in the presence of witnesses, one of them being Eduard Vichev, the head of the press-service of the Murmansk Department of Internal Affairs, the tape was reviewed. Police major Ivanovskiy once again demanded that the footage be deleted. According to him, the footage included an image of federal security service staff. Soldatova asked that the authorities make a official written request for the destruction of the footage but her request was refused. The editorial office was forced to obey the police demand.
The television company’s editorial team believes that the actions of the police and the plain-clothed men who did not identify themselves were arbitrary. In fact, they acted in violation of the law on mass media, in particular the provisions regarding interference with the legal activities of journalists.
“Unfortunately journalists always have problems with the federal security service. They behave impolitely and hamper the journalists’ work during public events. The situation becomes impossible when a television crew from the national network travels with some top official from Moscow. In that case the local journalists are not given a chance to film at all. For instance, this happened when Prime Minister Mihail Fradkov traveled to the Murmansk region,” Soldatova told CJES.
The producer added that the journalists have not received any official apologies for their illegal detention.
