(RSF/IFEX) – On 7 July 2002, legal action was initiated against Olga Cherubina, editor-in-chief of the local government newspaper “Nyaryana Vinder”, in the far north autonomous region of Nenets, for “abusing her position”. Cherubina was sacked a week earlier when one of her reporters asked President Vladimir Putin a question about corruption at a 24 […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 7 July 2002, legal action was initiated against Olga Cherubina, editor-in-chief of the local government newspaper “Nyaryana Vinder”, in the far north autonomous region of Nenets, for “abusing her position”. Cherubina was sacked a week earlier when one of her reporters asked President Vladimir Putin a question about corruption at a 24 June Kremlin press conference.
During the press conference, freelance reporter Alexei Vasilivetsky had mentioned the involvement of Nenets Regional Governor Vladimir Butov in corruption. Putin promised he would raise the matter with General State Prosecutor Vladimir Ustinov. The next day, a warrant was issued for Butov’s arrest, for “abusing his position”.
In a letter to Ustinov, RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard expressed his concern over the unjustified dismissal of Cherubina and the legal action initiated against her. “If the Russian Federation’s courts have decided to do something about the corruption of the Nenets authorities, it is also their duty to see the sacking and legal action against Cherubina for what it is – an attempt to silence those who talk about Governor Butov’s embezzlement,” he said. “We ask you to intervene so that the chief editor of ‘Nyaryana Vinder’ can continue to do her job of informing the public, and to ensure that the legal action taken against her is dropped,” Ménard added.
The newspaper’s staff said Butov had been trying to fire Cherubina for a long time, and had pressed the matter during a session of the local Parliament last winter. The newspaper’s managing editor, Andrei Jdankin, said she had been dismissed because the newspaper was reporting on the murky administration of the region. The deputy general prosecutor for the Northwestern Region, Vladimir Jubrin, said five criminal investigations into Butov’s activities were currently underway.
RSF is also concerned about legal action taken against Dina Oyun, editor-in-chief of the website Tuva-Online, since she denounced electoral fraud in the small Siberian republic of Tuva at the same 24 June Kremlin press conference.
