30 Apr 19 | Russia, Russia Incident Reports
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Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.
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Police search apartment belonging to Telegram-channel author’s parents
27 April 2019 – In Makhachkala, armed police officers broke into an apartment belonging to the parents of 26-year-old Alexandr Gorbunov, who was earlier named by RBK as an author of popular anonymous Telegram channel Stalingulag, known for outspoken, often slangy criticism of the authorities, Stalingulag reported. As reported by the channel, Gorbunov’s mother had been interrogated for six hours.
According to Stalingulag, police wanted Gorbunov on suspicion of “phone terrorism”, related to a series of phone calls with bomb threats that turned out to be fake but caused mass evacuations in Moscow. “How original, before they used to just plant drugs”, the author commented in his Telegram channel, referring to a known tactic of criminal case fabrication against activists.
Links: https://t.me/stalin_gulag/943
https://meduza.io/news/2019/04/27/stalingulag-soobschil-ob-obyskah-u-rodstvennikov-predpolagaemogo-avtora-telegram-kanala
https://echo.msk.ru/news/2415761-echo.html
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences
Source of violation: Police/State security
Court orders Novaya Gazeta to delete article
26 April 2019 – In Moscow court ruled in favour of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in its defamation suit against independent newspaper Novaya Gazet, Moskva news agency reported.
The FSB called the coverage false and demanded the deletion of two articles that said that FSB officers were torturing a Kyrgyz national detained after a blast in Magnitogorsk residential building.
Novaya Gazeta said it is going to appeal the court decision.
Links: https://www.mskagency.ru/materials/2885053
https://meduza.io/news/2019/04/26/sud-obyazal-novuyu-gazetu-udalit-stati-o-pytkah-zaderzhannogo-posle-vzryva-v-magnitogorske?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=share_fb&utm_campaign=share&fbclid=IwAR3fdhksgLQlWPT-474QfpSeYH7gLGNJgvmmkbTowHxbcjDUhf1ITlQTWAk
Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits
Source of violation: Court/Judicial
Kurgan journalist summoned to police after an extremist letter signed with his name sent to the president
26 April 2019 – Nikita Telizhenko, a journalist at the Kurgan bureau of Znak.com was summoned for interrogation to the counter-extremist department of the local police, Znak.com reported.
According to Telizhenko’s lawyer, the official reason for the questioning is a strange letter sent to the Russian president. The letter was signed with Telizhenko’s name, saying that he does not support Valdimir Putin’s policies, believes in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi ideas which the letter said inspires the Kurgan opposition movement.
The journalist denies that he is the author of the letter or has ever written similar material. Znak.com said it believes that the letter was a provocation against Telizhenko to pressure him psychologically.
Links: https://www.znak.com/2019-04-25/zhurnalista_znak_com_vyzvali_v_centr_e_iz_za_strannogo_pisma_ob_oppozicii_i_gitlere?fbclid=IwAR1iTzt36N6yjrewV2sscxDdL8Ga4eCdmqqAfbKSUap7htywZrMUausSrXw
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Intimidation
Source of violation: Police/State security; Unknown
Kremlin instructs media to not praise Ukraine’s elected president
24 April 2019 – Russia’s national TV channels were reportedly told “not to praise too much” Vladimir Zelensky, the newly elected president of Ukraine, according to Proekt which cited an anonymous high-profile public official as its source.
According to the official, TV reports shown on Russian national channels were seen by the presidential administration as too flattering.
Proekt said that on 14 April, the host Dmitry Kiselev of Vesti Nedely (Eng: News of the Week) praised Zelensky. However on the next episode, which aired after the recommendation, Kiselev’s tone was less complimentary. Authors of a similar show at First Channel were also very cautious and slightly criticised Zelensky in contrast with previous positive coverage of his candidacy against the then-serving president and Kremlin opponent Petro Poroshenko.
Links:
https://www.proekt.media/article/zelensky-federalnye-tv/
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/24/151177-proekt-kreml-posovetoval-federalnym-kanalam-ne-hvalit-zelenskogo
Categories: Soft censorship
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Parliament deputy requests a check of media that quoted her speech
23 April 2019 – Senator Elena Mizulina asked her lawyers to check media that published her quotes on internet regulation “the bans are the freedom”, RIA Novosti reported.
“The actions of several media that distributed the quote out of context along with distorted information, are now being checked by lawyers”, the press-service of Mizulina said.
The quotes by Mizulina were published by Novaya Gazeta, agency Moskva and others.
Links:
https://ria.ru/20190423/1552966635.html
https://mbk-news.appspot.com/news/mizulina-proverit-smi/
https://roskomsvoboda.org/46750/?fbclid=IwAR2Qbt9qaJXDmVFaEy0qQHQ-w1gHWCQqAo6FJst6RRcAHcajd1GRHcxVgXs
Categories: Legal Measures
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
TASS deletes column by Dmitry Bykov
23 April 2019 – State news agency TASS published and after a few hours deleted an opinion column “Shag” (Eng: The Step) by prominent journalist Dmitry Bykov, Snob.ru reported.
In the column, Bykov said that the current period of Russian history will be remembered as “an example of meanness and shameful idiocy”, explaining that the current national idea is based only on threats and pressure. “In fact, the Russian land is now behind a khan, a crime boss, a kingpin; though it would be a mistake to think it is the nature Russians, they are actually inclined to trust people like this”, Bykov wrote.
He went on, criticising the desire of Russian people to belong to the majority and calling to dispel the hypnosis of the word “motherland”, as this word is used when the government needs to do some shady business.
“To love the motherland today means not to identify with it in any way, and even more so with the authorities that are causing new and new abominations. And it would be good, if it was large-scale abominations, but it is streetwise dirty tricks”.
The column was deleted from TASS website and soon republished on the website Russian Pioneer.
Links:
https://snob.ru/news/176043
https://tass.ru/kultura/6367542
http://ruspioner.ru/honest/m/single/6221
Categories: Censorship
Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)
Rosneft demands to ban Reuters activity in Russia
19 April 2019 – State oil company Rosneft filed a complaint with police to “stop unlawful activity of pseudo agency” Reuters in Russia, Kommersant reported.
A day before, Reuters published an investigation that revealed the scheme that Venezuelan authorities were using to avoid US sanctions that prohibit American companies from buying Venezuelan oil. According to Reuters, Rosneft serves as a middle company, buying oil from the Venezuelan state company PDVSA with a discount and then selling it to a real buyer for the full price, while keeping the difference as a commission and transferring it to PDVSA’s accounts in Russian banks. Rosneft called the publication “an information sabotage” and “provocation”.
Update:
On 23 April 2019, Reuters corrected the article “to make clear Reuters could not determine payments were made under the proposed arrangement” and removed referencse to Evrofinance Mosnarbank; the agency also added that experts see no violation of sanctions in the revealed scheme.
Links: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3951683
https://www.dw.com/ru/%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%84%D1%82%D1%8C-%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0-reuters-%D0%B2-%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9-%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%B8/a-48403258
https://www.forbes.ru/biznes/375245-reuters-popravil-statyu-o-venesuele-posle-ugroz-rosnefti
https://ru.reuters.com/article/topNews/idRUKCN1RV0SK-ORUTP?fbclid=IwAR0S9pEp7Dyms2q-ng2YcqNjPproHAnpiF01yXp-qaxauB8Pi0ieDw3mHTI
Categories: Legal Measures; Censorship
Source of violation: Corporation/Company; Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Rosbalt office searched, computers seized
18 April 2019 – Сriminal investigation officers searched the Moscow office of news agency Rosbalt, seized computers belonging to one of the journalists and requested passwords for all editorial computers, Rosbalt reported.
The editor-in-chief Nikolai Ulyanov said that the search is connected to a criminal case opened on a defamation complaint filed by oligarch Alisher Usmanov. The complaint was not related to Robalt articles, but to the posts of Rosbalt journalist Alexandr Shvarev on other websites, including the blocked website rucriminal.info.
Background:
In November 2018, Usmanov filed a defamation case against A.M. Volkov and rucriminal.info over a publication proving the link between Alisher Usmanov and crime boss Shakro Molodoy. Rosbalt says that Сriminal investigation officers used “Shakro Molodoy” for word search while checking editorial computers.
The seizure of Shvarev’s computer could be connected to the search of evidence and information about sources for previously published articles, Rosbalt suggests. The agency said that Shvarev had never published articles about Usmanov at Rosbalt, but he had a right to work for other media and use a pseudonym for his publications.
Links:
https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/18/v-moskve-v-ofis-rosbalta-prishli-policeyskie
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/articles/2019/04/24/80336-iskali-to-ne-znayut-chto
Categories: Attack to Property
Source of violation: Police/State security
TASS retracts multiple quotations by ex-head of FSB
16 April 2019 – State news agency TASS removed a series of quotations by Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Security Council of Russia and the ex-head of Federal Security Service (FSB), which was noticed by an editor of Current Time.
The quotations were direct accusations that the USA is worsening the Iran and North Korea crisis. The quotes were annulled as “wrongly published”
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2648904765125195&id=100000170936377
Category: Censorship
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Journalists barred from covering trial on extremist organisation
15 April 2019 – The bailiffs of the Penza garrison military court refused to let journalists cover an open trial of extremist organisation Set (Eng:Net). Defendants said that the charges were fabricated by secret services, 7×7 reported.
The bailiffs told 7×7 reporters that the courtroom was full, however the journalists could see via video link that the courtroom was in fact empty.
Links:
https://7×7-journal.ru/anewsitem/119860
https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/15/v-penze-zhurnalistov-i-rodstvennikov-obvinyaemyh-ne-pustili-na-otkrytoe
Category: Blocked Access
Source of violation: Court/Judicial
Prosecutor’s office sides with newspaper in dispute with local authorities
15 April 2019 – The prosecutor’s office issued a remedial action order to Baidavlet Taibergenov, the head of Agapovsky district administration in the Chelyabinsk region, after finding out that its contract with the local Zvezda newspaper required the outlet to submit newspaper layouts to the district administration for approval, which violates the law prohibiting censorship, Znak.com reported.
The prosecutor’s office fined the administration’s press-secretary 5,000 roubles (70 euro) for not providing journalists with requested information in the legally required period.
Earlier the administration deprived the newspaper of a municipal contract for the publication of legal acts because the journalists refused to submit editorial materials for approval. The check by the prosecutor’s office was initiated by Russian Union of Journalists.
Links: https://www.znak.com/2019-04-15/na_urale_prokuratura_podtverdila_fakt_cenzury_v_otnosheniya_rayonnoy_gazety
http://magnitogorsk.bezformata.com/listnews/chinovnikov-administratcii-agapovskogo/74227203/
https://www.verstov.info/news/society/77555-prokuratura-vstupilas-za-gazetu-zvezda-chinovnikov-administracii-agapovskogo-rayona-poymali-na-cenzure.html
Categories: Censorship; Soft censorship
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Barents Press vilified by state TV
11 April 2019 – Russia-24 aired a report about a workshop hosted by international network Barents-Press for Russian journalists in Murmansk, vilifying the organisers and speakers as opinionated Russophobes. The regional branch of the Russian Union of Journalists condemned the defamatory report, saying that it was “clearly aimed to discredit the respected organisation Barents Press” and hurt international cooperation between journalists.
Links:
https://www.vesti.ru/videos/show/vid/794482/cid/1#
http://smikarelii.ru/content/zaavlenie-souzov-zurnalistov-karelii-arhangelskoi-i-murmanskoi-oblastei-v-svazi-s-suzetom?fbclid=IwAR3DBOTt04_7gXEAIGMQ1JcgRIpLfdIKahuBREiwPll0XXHbqOv9RwogZHo
Categories: Intimidation
Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)
Journalist assaulted by security guards in Omsk
9, April – Andrey Surovtsev, a reporter for the online Sota Vision, was assaulted by security guards at a dormitory in Omsk, where about a thousand of Chinese workers are housed, Kasparov.Ru reported.
Surovtsev was filming a bus ferrying Chinese workers from a local oil plant to the dormitory, when two security guards approached him and tried to interfere. When Surovtsev warned them that they were obstructing journalistic activities, one of them replied: “I don’t care about your laws”.
The security guards grabbed Surovtsev’s equipment, twisted his arm behind his back and took his smartphone and documents. When the guards heard Suvortsev calling the police, they returned him his belongings. However, the video made with the journalist’s smartphone was deleted.
The day after Surovtsev confirmed his injuries in a local hospital and filed a complaint about the incident to the police.
Links:
http://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5CAC86A4F4064
https://www.arsvest.ru/rubr/2/57423
http://www.qwas.ru/russia/rufront/Ohranniki-privezennyh-v-Omsk-iz-Kitaja-stroitelei-napali-na-zhurnalista/
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury; Attack to Property
Source of violation: Private security
Press service of North Ossetia administration bars journalists from news conferences
6 April 2019 – North Ossetia regional website Osnova.News published an article describing how the press service of North Ossetia administration had barred independent journalists from news conferences and avoided answering their calls and information requests.
On 5 February 2019 there was a news conference by the government of the republic scheduled. Ahead of it, the head of North Ossetia administration’s press service officer Fatima Sabanova called the Osnova.News office and asked what questions its reporter was going to ask. When Sabanova learnt that it would be Alina Alikhanova, who was going to attend the news conference, she demanded to the outlet send another reporter. Sabanova said that Alikhanova did not have an accreditation, despite the two accreditation requests sent by the outlet in advance of the conference.
The news conference was canceled last minute. The press conference was rescheduled for 26 March but the announcement was made unofficially in a Facebook post. When the journalists of Osnova.News learned about the new date of the news conference, they tried to reach Sabanova to get an accreditation, but the calls were ignored.
Osnova.News described another incident that took place in March. Reporter Zaur Farniev, who is said to be on a list of “undesirable and objectionable” journalist, was allowed to attend a meeting of the head of North Ossetia administration, Vyacheslav Bitarov, with constituents for the first time in 2.5 years. However, each time Farniev tried to capture video at the meeting, he was asked to stop without any explanation. The press service later published its own video which significantly cut answers of the official, edited in a flattering way.
Links: http://osnova.news/n/2657/
Categories: Blocked Access
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Journalist fined for a repost in personal Telegram-channel
6 April 2019 – In the Krasnodar region, journalist Alexandr Savelev was fined 5,000 roubles (70 euro) for “publication of symbols of undesirable organisation” after he reposted a Facebook post made in the group “Open Russia// Krasnodar region”, Ovd.info reported.
The post included an infographic showing the increase of prices of goods in the last 10 years and contained the logo of Open Russia.
In 2017, Russia’s general prosecutor office recognised Open Russia, founded by an exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, as an “undesirable organisation”. In March 2018, Open Russia announced its liquidation in order to protect its activists, who regularly faced prosecution.
Links:
https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/06/v-krasnodarskom-krae-zhurnalista-oshtrafovali-za-reposty-materialov-s
https://t.me/sav_krd/2330
Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences
Source of violation: Police/State security; Court/Judicial
Chuvashia blogger charged with “nazism rehabilitation” for 9-year old post
5 April 2019 – The Investigative Committee of Chuvashia republic opened a criminal case against local blogger Konstantin Ishutov, 7×7 reported. The new criminal case opened under the Article 354, Part 1 of the Criminal code of Russia (Nazism rehabilitation) in relation to a post in LiveJournal in 2010. In that post Ishutov criticized Chuvashia authorities for not taking care of the graves of the soldiers killed in World War II, comparing it to the way the Germans take care of similar graves.
In 2018, a similar criminal case on Nazism rehabilitation was opened against Ishutov because of the post with Third Reich’s leaflet and capture “When the Third Reich treats Soviet people better than Putin treats Russians”.
Also, in March,2019, the Investigative Committee of Chuvashia republic opened a criminal case against Ishutov on suspicion of child pornography production.
Ishutov is known for his publication about the falsifications at elections. In 2017, he was also sued for reposting an investigation about corruption schemes involving the prime minister Dmitry Medvedev – the police demanded to delete it, but in 2018 the Supreme Court of Chuvashia ruled in favor of blogger.
Links:
https://7×7-journal.ru/articles/2019/04/05/na-blogera-iz-chuvashii-konstantina-ishutova-zaveli-eshe-odno-delo-za-reabilitaciyu-nacizma
https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/04/05/na-blogera-ishutova-vozbudili-vtoroe-delo-o-reabilitacii-nacizma-iz-za-posta
Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences
Source of violation: Police/State security
Local official sues Properm.ru over publications about his property in national park
4 April 2019 – A Sverdlovsk regional court started trial on the defamation lawsuit filed by Sergey Morozov, the head of Kultaevo village, against local media Properm.ru, the website reported.
The official stated that an article about a prosecutors’ check of his family business “morally hurt him, caused health worsening, worries and sleep disorder”. Morozov’s suit seeks 100,000 roubles (1,386 euro) compensation and retraction of the publication. Earlier the official filed defamation lawsuits against three social media users who reposted the publication.
Links:
https://properm.ru/news/society/168719/
https://properm.ru/news/incident/162592/
http://parkgagarina.info/index.php/obshchestvo/29435-permskij-kraj-chinovnik-trebuet-s-internet-portala-100-tysyach-rublej-za-chto-neponyatno.html
https://www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5CAC9592B4D8D§ion_id=43452BE8655FB
Categories: Legal Measures
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Municipal newspaper’s journalists left without salary for three months due to conflict with local authorities
4 April 2019 – Former editor-in-chief of Verkheuralsk municipal newspaper Krasniy Uralets, Nikolay Batavin, sent an open letter to the deputy governor of Chelyabinsk region Alexey Texler, Znak reported.
In the letter Batavin said that due to the journalists’ conflict with the head of Verhneuralsk district administration Sergey Aybulatov, the accounts of Krasniy Uralets were blocked, as a result the newspaper’s journalists were left without salary for over three months.
Links:
https://www.znak.com/2019-04-04/v_chelyabinskoy_oblasti_sotrudniki_rayonnoy_gazety_tri_mesyaca_ne_poluchayut_zarplatu
https://news.sputnik.ru/ekonomika/c45e2dd1ac16d91bb3f421051d2ad64d9fae698d
Categories: Censorship – Commercial interference
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Editor-in-chief of Novaya Kondopoga fired after conflict with local authorities
4 April 2019 – Yulia Shevchuk, the editor-in-chief of the municipal newspaper Novaya Kondopoga was fired after a conflict with local officials, 7×7 website reported.
The decree to fire Shevchuk was signed by a deputy head of the administration of the Kndopoga district. Officials say Shevchuk was fired because of declining income at the newspaper.
However, Shevchuk believes that the reason was her independent editorial policy. “The administration head believes that the newspaper tells about social and political life in the district in a wrong way. He doesn’t say directly ‘I forbid you to write about this and that’, but he means it – don’t write about this or write about that in this way to not disturb people, to not rock the boat”, Shevchuk told 7×7.
In May 2018, economic crime officers searched Novaya Kondopoga office and seized documents. Though there was no criminal case opened after that (the newspaper had no debts and earned 119,000 roubles – around 1,650 euro), Vitaly Sadovnikov, the head of the district administration, said that the check revealed violations of financial and labour norms and suggested to a disciplinary action regarding Shevchuk. The municipal deputies voted in approval. According to the law, a disciplinary action could be in a form of rebuke, reprimand or dismissal. There was no explanation why the harshest form was chosen.
In March 2019, the Russian Union of Journalists published an open letter to the head of Kondopoga district administration, saying that the financial state of the newspaper was stable and adequate for a local outlet. The union also pointed out that the administration did not have a right to take disciplinary action against the newspaper editor-in-chief. “Additionally, the pressure from the administration, in our opinion, may be linked to the independency of the editor-in-chief in the choice of topics, her desire to tell not only about successes of the city and district authorities, but about the problems of locals as well, about things that common people – the readers of the newspaper – are worried about”.
After the letter from the Russian Union of Journalists, the head of the district administration Vitaly Sadovnikov visited the Novaya Kondopoga office. “He said that the newspaper was, is and will be working”. He also told the head of Karelia Union of Journalists Evgeny Belyanchikov, that he was not going to fire Shevchuk. However, soon after, the administration issued a decree firing the editor, which was signed by Sadovnikov’s deputy.
Shevchuk said she disagrees with her termination and is going to file a lawsuit about unlawful employment termination.
Links:
https://7×7-journal.ru/articles/2019/04/05/v-karelii-administraciya-rajona-uvolila-glavnogo-redaktora-gazety-novaya-kondopoga-yuliyu-shevchuk
http://smikarelii.ru/node-50-article
https://karelinform.ru/news/incident/18-04-2019/uvolennyy-glavred-namerena-suditsya-s-gazetoy-novaya-kondopoga
https://runaruna.ru/articles/27139-v-karelii-uvolili-glavnogo-redaktora-gazeti-k-kotoroj-bil-konflikt-s-mestnoj-vlastyu/
Categories: Censorship; Loss of Employment
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Antimonopoly service checks Krasnoyarsk newspaper because of caricature
3 April 2019 – The regional branch of the Federal Antimonopoly Service launched a check of the Krasnoyarsk-based newspaper Prospekt Mira because of a caricature with an image of the Universiade’s mascot on the front page of the December issue, Prospekt Mira reported.
The caricature featured a dog similar to the Universiade mascot warming next to a fire with a title “After the money” and was referring to the student games that took place in March 2019 in Krasnoyarsk and was associated with a series of money misuse scandals.
The check was started on the complaint of the executive board of the Universiade that considered the use of the image a violation of the trade mark rights.
“Such actions by the Universiade are pressure on the media, obstructing our journalistic activities. They want to force us to write only good things about the Universiade, to prohibit the raising of problematic issues. After all, after this event there will obviously be a whole tail of consequences: criminal cases, scandals, trials ”, said the publisher of Prospekt Mira, Ilya Labunksy.
On 21 March, the regional prosecutor’s office also started a check of Prospekt Mira on a complaint brought by the executive board of the Universiade about the trademark rights.
Links:
https://prmira.ru/news/ufas-proveryaet-prospekt-mira-iz-za-karikatury-na-universiadu-ranee-o-svoej-proverke-zayavili-v-prok/
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/03/150563-fas-proverit-krasnoyarskuyu-gazetu-iz-za-karikatury-na-talisman-universiady
https://zona.media/news/2019/03/21/prospekt-mira
Category: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Sport journalist assaulted after covering scandal
3 April 2019 – Sports journalist Vasily Utkin was assaulted with mace spray by an unknown man, the journalist said on his Telegram-channel.
The assault happened in the late evening after a training of an amateur football team Egrisi, where Utkin is a frequent visitor.
A young man in a grey hoodie approached Utkin next to the journalist’s car and sprayed mace in his face; the assailant, who was filming the assault with his smartphone said “for the accountability record”, according to Utkin.
Utkin said “There are only one reason and only two people who would like to organise this. I was talking about it in the last episode of my show”, referring to his YouTube show Footbal Club. On the last episode covering the so-called Aguzarov-gate – a scheme in which lawyer Alan Aguzarov, a personal attorney for the head coach of Russian national football team Stanislav Cherchesov and a nephew of the ex-head of North Ossetia-Alania, was using his connections to Cherchesov to influence over football players and sign them up for contracts, promising to help them to get selected for the national team.
Utkin decided not to file a complaint about the assault, saying it would be just a waste of time for him.
Links:
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/04/03/150544-zhurnalist-vasiliy-utkin-rasskazal-o-napadenii-na-nego-v-moskve?fbclid=IwAR0W4HuSBMrLfWnvALG5oEzZJFsNuNE68Gr0bPMx6nktBOICTWcGAfwVUU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xByYo8NHQiY&feature=youtu.be
https://lenta.ru/news/2019/04/03/utkin_napadenie/
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury; Intimidation
Source of violation: Unknown
TV journalists barred from covering trial on St Petersburg metro blasts
2 April 2019 – A Saint Petersburg court barred TV journalists from filming a trial of the suspected organisers of the 2017 metro blasts, Regnum reported.
Lawyers for the defendants, who pleaded not guilty, asked the court to allow media coverage. The prosecutor insisted on closed trial. The court partially agreed with the prosecutor, prohibiting filming.
Links:
https://regnum.ru/news/2603524.html
https://jourdom.ru/news/108489
Categories: Blocked Access
Source of violation: Court/Judicial
Editor-in-chief of Khabarov.today summoned for interrogation on complaint of local politician
2 April 2019 – In Khabarovsk Alexey Kaper, the editor-in-chief of local media Khabarovsk.today, was summoned by police for interrogation, Khabarovsk.today reported.
The interrogator told Kaper that his questioning was a part of a check started on a complaint from Arkady Mkrtychev, the head of the local department of the ruling party United Russia and former head of Khabarovsk regional government, regarding posts about him in anonymous Telegram-channels.
The journalist understood from the questions he was asked, that Mkrtychev believes that it Kaper who is the author of Telegram-channel known as Vecherny Khabarovsk. Kapers denies that he has any involvement with this Telegram-channel. The journalist was also asked if he knows authors of other Telegram-channels, such as Nedebri and Korifey Khabarov.
Kaper himself believes that the interrogation was connected to the publication of a recorded closed-door meeting between the regional parliament speaker and the secretary of the regional department of United Russia Sergey Lugovskoy with party members, in which he said that the party is able to solve many regional problems, but is not acting because it would look like an achievement of the local governor, not the party.
Kaper also said that on 1 March Khabarovsk.today received an email from a representative of an unknown PR agency offering money for removal of an article about Arkady Mkrtychev’s involvement in illegal caviar trading. Kaper refused to do so and said that he believes it was a provocation staged to charge him with corrupt business practices.
Links:
https://habarov.today/2019-04-02/arkadiy-mkrtichev-napisal-zayavlenie-v-politsiyu-na-glavnogo-redaktora-habarovtoday?fbclid=IwAR2FQZ-nWCPERea9dLlS3YI-KEVbEYCtx9GPIE6XfpMyD54Ic3arkmzO1I
https://zona.media/news/2019/04/03/habarovsk
https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1155569/
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
Source of violation: Police/State security; Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
State parliament approves bill about fines for “unsanctioned” distribution of foreign press
2 April 2019 – Russia’s parliament approved in the first reading a bill about fines for distribution of foreign press in Russia “without permission”, the statement said on the official website of the parliament.
The amendments to the media law, obliging foreign press distributors to seek official permission from the Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor, were approved in 2017. The new bill will classify a violation of such norms as an administrative offence and will introduce a punishment in the form of fines up to 30,000 roubles (around 418 euro). Also, according to the bill, printed copies of foreign press distributed without permission should be seized.
There is no clarity so far on whether the bill will work only for mass distribution or could be used to punish even distribution for personal use as if one orders a foreign magazine from abroad or brings it home from a foreign trip.
Links:
http://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/632800-7
https://rtvi.com/news/gosduma-zakonoproekt-o-shtrafakh-za-rasprostranenie-inostrannoy-pressy/?fbclid=IwAR2R2P5T4aBxThjV2oHvUTo9uU7AebMPkF5e2GLEPhKIUG5SbY7YQzSBW98
https://www.fontanka.ru/2019/04/02/098/
Categories: Legal Measures
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
State TV host forced to quit, summoned for talk with Roskosmos head after publishing open letter by employee of aerospace manufacturer
1 April 2019 – Konstantin Semin, host of Agitation and Propaganda, a show on state-owned TV channel Rossiya-24, was forced to quit his job after publishing a letter from an employee of Samara-based aerospace manufacturer Progress on his personal Youtube channel.
The letter criticised state space agency Roskosmos, Semin said in a video.
After his resignation, Semin was summoned for a talk with the head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin, who spoke for over an hour about a “black PR campaign” aimed at discrediting his efforts to help Russia’s space industry to recover.
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpU9jhjgeZs
https://dailystorm.ru/news/zhurnalist-vgtrk-pokinul-dolzhnost-posle-publikacii-pisma-s-kritikoy-roskosmosa?fbclid=IwAR2ZRiqk8YS2fzR5veUwW4ucvqDdBDPX5BnwWcmf7Fm-xGBLvxXyHtcKHeo
http://glavnoe24.ru/topics/9114/
Categories: Censorship; Loss of Employment; Intimidation
Source of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s); Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Roskomnadzor forces Yaroslavl-area media to delete articles referencing graffiti aimed at Putin
1 April 2019 – The Russian state media regulator Roskomnadzor sent two requests to local website Yarkub, demanding it delete an article about graffiti that allegedly insulted the President Vladimir Putin, Yarkub reported.
Initially Yarkub received an email demanding the article be deleted by midnight. The editor-in-chief later received a phone call from the regional department of Roskomnadzor. The regulator officials did not explain what laws were violated. Yarkub said that the editorial office sees the situation as an act of censorship.
The article in question titled “Police began search of a man, who left an insulting graffiti on the building of Yaroslavl ministry of internal affairs” was published in the morning of 1 April. The graffiti “Putin pidor” allegedly suggested in an explicit form that Russian president Vladimir Putin is gay. The graffiti was not seen in the published photos and the derogatory word was replaced with *-symbols.
Update:
2 April 2019 – Another email from Roskomnadzor clarified that the article should be deleted due to the new law about “disrespecting authorities” that came into force on 29 March 2019, TJ reported.
Editor of another Yaroslavl area media outlet, 76.ru, Olga Prokhorova wrote in her Facebook, she also received five calls from Roskomnadzor with requests to delete a similar article about the graffiti. She was told by the officials that they are pressed “from far above” to prosecute media that published articles on the subject. However, the general prosecutor’s office, that according to the law has the power to request such actions from Roskomnadzor denied any involvement, Interfax reported.
Meanwhile, at least five other Yaroslavl media outlets removed similar articles about the graffiti: Echo Moskvy; PRO Gorod; Pervy Yaroslavsky; Moskovsky Komsomolets-Yaroslavl. However, those media deny receiving official requests from Roskomnadzor.
Update:
11 April 2019 – Roskomnadzor blocked the Yarkub website after the outlet refused to delete articles about the graffiti denigrating Putin. The decision was made on 9 April and the official reason for blocking was the news article about a suicide attempt of an autistis teenager published on 9 June 2018, almost a year ago. (Since 2012, the law “About protection of children from information harmful to their health and development” forbids media to describe suicide methods).
“It is worrying to think that Roskomnadzor is roughly finding fault and seeking revenge for our position regarding the article on the graffiti about Putin left on the wall of ministry of internal affairs”, Yarkub editor Marina Sedneeva wrote in a Facebook post. Yarkub filed a complaint regarding Roskomnadzor actions to the investigative committee.
Update:
13 April 2019 – Roskomnadzor blocked the 76.ru website after the media outlet refused to refused to delete articles about the graffiti denigrating Putin. In response, 76.ru editor-in-chief, Olga Prohorova, removed a photo of the graffiti from the article, while keeping the article on the website. Later in the same day Roskomnadzor unblocked 76.ru’s website.
Update:
14 April 2019 – Roskomnadzor unblocked Yarkub website after the media deleted an article from June 2018 about a suicide, which was the formal reason given for the blocking of the outlet’s wesbite.
Links:
https://t.me/yarcube/3717
https://zona.media/news/2019/04/01/yarcube?fbclid=IwAR12eU1lx6YEs6BkPTht-l7YzfFO10IwHTI6pMWObuYplgmN6aqiIShEgz4
https://tjournal.ru/media/92051-genprokuratura-vpervye-ispolzovala-zakon-o-neuvazhenii-k-vlasti-dlya-udaleniya-novostey-o-graffiti-s-oskorbleniem-putina
https://www.interfax.ru/russia/656792
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2212506988816501&set=a.138954256171795&type=3&theater
https://www.svoboda.org/a/29874717.html
https://zona.media/news/2019/04/13/76ru
https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/news/2019/04/13/799066-smi
Categories: Intimidation; Censorship; Legal Measures
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Photographer summoned after covering feminist action in Saint-Petersburg
1 April 2019 – Saint Petersburg photographer David Frenkel was summoned into a police department to draw up a protocol of administrative violation, Fontanka reported.
When photographer called the police department to clarify the details, he was told that the police consider him a participant of unsanctioned action staged by a group of feminists on 8 March 2019, that he covered as a photographer.
The action was spontaneously organised after activists of pro-government movement Set broke into women-only café Simona “to congratulate” the owners with flowers, despite the owners’ repeated requests for the Set supporters to leave. After that three activists staged a protest with a naked man under a pile of flowers and the slogan “Your flowers will grow on a grave of the patriarchy”.
Links:
https://www.fontanka.ru/2019/04/01/148/
https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1155620/
https://twitter.com/merr1k/status/1112721459162611712
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
Source of violation: Police/State security
Kommersant office vandalized in Ekaterinburg
1 April 2019 – In Ekaterinburg unknown people broke into the editorial office of a regional department of the national newspaper Kommersant during the night between 31 March and 1 April, the general director Kommersnt-Ural Sergey Plakhotin told E1.RU.
The intruders vandalised the room with editorial servers, damaged computers belonging to the director, the editor-in-chief and the accountant, and stole two hard drives from the editor-in-chief’s computer. They also left a paper with message “You are going to die, small fry” on the table in the general director Sergey Plakhotin’s office. According to the police, the overall damage is estimated of 70,000 roubles (about 968 euro).
Kommersant journalists believe that the attack may be linked to the publication of the book “Gangs catchers. The meeting point” about the fight against organised crime in Ekaterinburg.
UPDATE:
2 April 2019 – Police detained a suspect, who they said turned out to be an unemployed 46-year old resident of Ekaterinburg. Police opened a criminal case against the individuals on the charges of “Intentional damage to property”, punishable with up to five years in jail. According to the police, the suspect pleaded guilty and committed the crime under the influence of alcohol and because of “personal motives”, not connected to the journalistic activity of Kommersant editorial team. The suspect was released on with travel restrictions.
Links:
https://www.e1.ru/news/spool/news_id-66038146.html?fbclid=IwAR2sP6p3kFkP9pg3z_cVLooobpn3ZzxyiGv0H69Ka06omHisoaRPcO2cc-M
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3930771?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=amplifr_social
https://ura.news/news/1052378986
https://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/5ca3104b9a7947d7a9b3f570
Categories: Intimidation; Attack to Property
Source of violation: Known private individual(s)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1560948373790-0b4f0460-bf1a-5″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
30 Apr 19 | Belarus, Belarus Incident Reports
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Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”12 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
Bank account of freelance journalist arrested over not having paid fines for work without accreditation
30 April 2019 – Homel freelancer Andrei Tolchyn was summoned to the executor in conjunction with his four unpaid fines and told that his bank account had been arrested and he would have ten days to pay them.
He was sentenced to heavy fines for ‘illegal production of media content’ without accreditation for the TV channel Belsat. The total amount of the fines is 3200 Belarusian rubles (1,523 dollars).
Update:
Tolchyn’s account was unlocked after the fines had been paid.
Link: https://baj.by/be/content/u-zhurnalista-frylansera-andreya-tolchyna-aryshtavali-rahunak-u-belarusbanku
https://baj.by/be/content/belarusbank-razblakavau-rahunak-zhurnalista-frylansera-raney-zablakavany-z-za-shtrafau
Category: Legal Measures
Source of violation: State Agency
Two Brest freelancers fined
18 April 2019 – Freelance journalists Ales Liauchuk and Milana Kharytonava were fined 1,275 Belarusian rubles (about 600 dollars) each for their cooperation with Belsat TV without accreditation. The decision was taken by the chairperson of the Brest district court.
Link: https://belsat.eu/ru/news/brestskih-nezavisimyh-zhurnalistov-snova-oshtrafovali-bolshie-dengi-vzyskali-s-tretej-popytki/
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Police, Court
Leading independent media not accredited to annual message of president Lukashenko
18 April 2019 – Journalists for the leading news website TUT.BY, the news agency BelaPAN, the newspaper Belorusy I Rynok, and European Radio for Belarus were not accredited to cover the annual message of Alexander Lukashenko to the people and the National Assembly on 19 April 2019.
Two of them, BelaPAN`s Tattyana Karavenkova and special correspondent for European Radio for Belarus Zmitser Lukashuk, are permanently accredited in the parliament.
Link: https://baj.by/be/content/zhurnalistau-nedzyarzhaunyh-smi-ne-akredytavali-na-paslanne-lukashenki
Category: Blocked Access
Source of violation: State Agency
Blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin sentenced to large fine in criminal trial
18 April 2019 – A judge for the Leninski district court of Brest passed a sentence in the criminal case against blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin. He was convicted under Art. 188 (Slander) and Art. 189 (Insult) of the Criminal Code. The reason for initiating his criminal case was an appeal of a police officer over a video on the blogger`s YouTube channel Narodnyj Reportior.
The blogger was fined around 9180 Belarusian rubles (4,590 dollars). Piatrukhin was also obliged to recompense moral damage to four policemen. In total the blogger has to pay 8,840 dollars. In addition, the judge also ordered him to pay legal fees.
This amount should be paid within a month. It is also reported that the blogger made a written undertaking not to leave a place and his property was distrained.
Link: http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/18/330954/
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Court
Journalist with photo camera banned from entering into local government premises
Correspondent for the independent newspaper Hazeta Slonimskaya Krystsina Saladukha who came to make pictures of the exhibition of a housing building project launched a day before was banned from entering into the building of Slonim local government in the Hrodna region. A security guard told her she was not entitled to pass people with photographic equipment without a special permission.
Link: https://baj.by/be/content/zhurnalistka-pryyshla-sfatagrafavac-praekt-yae-navat-ne-puscili-u-rayvykankam
Category: Blocked Access
Source of violation: Public official
Freelance journalist Lupach fined twice for a month
15 April 2019 – Hlybokaye-based freelance journalist Zmitser Lupach stood trial in the Sharkaushchyna district court for contributing to Belsat TV without accreditation. A judge imposed on him a fine of 892.5 Belarusian rubles (about $440) over his news story about the weak economy situation and low salaries in the district.
Link: https://belsat.eu/en/news/collecting-negative-opinions-freelance-journo-fined-for-contributing-to-belsat-tv/
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Police, Court
Freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets fined the second day in a row
12 April 2019 – In Brest, freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets fined 765 Belarusian rubles (364 dollars) following a police report under Article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offences for “production of information content for a foreign media outlet which was not accredited in the Republic of Belarus.” His article titled Activists And Independent Journalists Not Allowed Into the Press Conference at the I-Power Plant had appeared on the website of Belarusian Radio Racyja based in Poland.
Link: https://baj.by/be/content/sud-bresckaga-rayona-pakarau-frylansera-yaugena-skrabca-chargovym-shtrafam
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Police, Court
Freelance journalist fined in Mahiliou
11 April 2019 – A judge in the Leninski district court of Mahiliou ruled to fine freelance journalist Alina Skrabunova 1275 Belarusian rubles (approximately 600 dollars). She was found guilty of “participation in the illegal production of media content” as her video on the opening of an inclusive cafe where wheelchair users work had been broadcasted on the TV channel Belsat.
Link: https://baj.by/be/content/za-syuzhet-pra-lyudzey-z-invalidnascyu-zhurnalistku-pakarali-shtrafam-u-50-bazavyh
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Police, Court
Freelance journalist fined in two cases
11 April 2019 – The Hlybokaye district court fined independent journalist Zmitser Lupach 1,020 Belarusian rubles ($485) in total in two cases. He was tried under Article 22.9 (illegal production and/or distribution of media content) and under Article 23.34 (violation of the procedure for organizing or conducting mass events) of the Code of Administrative Offences. In the first case, the journalist was punished for his report on the TV channel Belsat and, in the second case, for raising a white-red-white flag during Freedom Day, the anniversary of the Belarusian People’s Republic.
Link: http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/11/330183/
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Police, Court
Freelance journalist fined in Brest
11 April 2019 – The Leninski district court of Brest considered a case against freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets under Article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses over his working for a foreign media outlet without accreditation. The police report states he “interviewed without accreditation, thus violating the rights and obligations of a foreign media journalist.” As a result, a judge fined the journalist BYN 765 ($364).
Link: http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/11/330204/
Category: Fines
Source of violation: Police, Court
Police raid Belsat TV office in Minsk
9 April 2018 – Police searched the office of Belsat TV channel in Minsk under a search warrant of the Investigative Committee. An official representative of the Investigative Committee Siarhei Kabakovich confirmed that the search was carried out as part of the investigation of a slander case under Article 188 of the Criminal Code.
In the summer 2018 Belsat TV journalist Ales Zaleuski prepared a video story about corruption at the Minsitry of Health Care, reporting about arrest of Aleh Shved, head of the state-owned enterprise Medtechnocenter. However, the text version on the channel’s website did not repeat the video. The text said, Aleh Shved was arrested together with his brother Andrei, head of the State Committee of Forensic Examination. Editors corrected the mistake and published the retraction immediately after the mistake was noticed. However, Andrei Shved addressed Minister of the Interior asking to prosecute me under criminal charges. In November 2018, the Investigation Committee decided there were no grounds to start criminal proceedings.
However, in January 2019 Minsk city prosecutor’s office instigated a new investigation and brought the case back to the Investigative Committee. Zaleuski believes, there are no other criminal cases against the TV channel staff. According to the journalist, they are looking for the person who published the text under the video story on the website. They have already carried out interrogations with a video camera. The witnesses in the case are Ales Zaleuski, cameraman Aliaxander Lubianchuk, and Belsat representatives Aliaksei Minchonak and Iryna Slaunikava.
During the search, the police seized two computer system units, three laptops, and all data storage media.
Update: Two days later all the equipment seized was returned to Belsat TV.
Link(s): https://belsat.eu/en/news/investigators-raiding-belsat-tv-office-in-minsk/
https://baj.by/en/content/minsk-police-raid-and-search-belsat-office-slander-charges-office-has-been-crushed
http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/9/329891/
https://baj.by/en/content/minsk-office-belsat-gets-back-equipment-seized-during-recent-search
Categories: Interrogation, Attack to Property
Source of violation: State Agency, Police
Police hinder journalist’s work while demolishing crosses in Kurapaty
4 April 2019 – Deputy head of the Minsk police department Siarhei Udodau barred journalists from working in Kurapaty near Minsk, where builders were demolishing crosses erected around a people’s memorial to the victims of Stalin’s repressions.
When Deutsche Welle Pauliuk Bykouski said that, under the law, he is entitled to be present at the place of public events, Udodau threatened to detain him for disobeying the police. A similar incident occurred with the correspondent of the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty Aleh Hruzdzilovich.
Euroradio’s Raman Pratasevich said a man in civilian clothes elbowed the journalist’s camera and stood in front of the photographer to hinder filming how the crosses were being demolished. Belsat TV cameraperson Iryna Arakhouskaya was also prevented from recording. Before that, men in civilian clothes prevented journalists from filming the detention of protesters.
Links: https://baj.by/be/content/fakty-perashkodau-u-pracy-zhurnalistau-padchas-padzey-u-kurapatah-4-krasavika
Category: Blocked Access, Physical Assault
Source of violation: Police
Ministry of information bans distribution of BelGazeta issue through newsstand chain
2 April 2019 – An issue of the weekly BelGazeta was withdrawn from the newsstand chain Belsayuzdruk on the recommendation of the ministry of information. The number contained, in particular, humorous pieces and a cartoon on cows. This was due to the fact that President Lukashenko roughly criticized the sanitary condition of the cows on a farm in the Shklou district and this was followed by the deprivation of a number of officials at various levels.
BelGazeta editor-in-chief Kiryl Zhyvalovich visited the ministry of information and had a conversation with the minister. Zhyvalovich refused to specify which articles the ministry had claims against, he just noted that there were several such materials.
Regarding this incident, the Minister of Information Aliaksandr Karliukevich said that “it is unacceptable when media outlets or websites, intentionally hyperbolizing critical claims, falling into open vulgarity and loutishness.”
Links: http://mininform.gov.by/news/all/v-ministerstvo-informatsii-postupilo-neskolko-obrashcheniy/
https://euroradio.fm/ru/belgazeta-mu
https://belsat.eu/ru/news/sistemnoe-hamstvo-i-hamskaya-sistema/
Category: Censorship
Source of violation: State Agency[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1560774544760-b343356b-4693-5″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
04 Apr 19 | Awards, Fellowship, Fellowship 2019, News and features
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Each year, the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards gala honours courageous champions who fight for free speech around the world.
Drawn from more than 400 crowdsourced nominations, this year’s nominees include artists, journalists, campaigners and digital activists tackling censorship and fighting for freedom of expression. Many of the 15 shortlisted are regularly targeted by authorities or by criminal and extremist groups for their work: some face regular death threats, others criminal prosecution.
The gala takes place on Thursday 4 April in London and will be hosted by comedian Nish Kumar.
We will be live tweeting throughout the evening on @IndexCensorship. Get involved in the conversation using the hashtag #IndexAwards2019.
Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards nominees 2019
Arts
for artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression
ArtLords | Afghanistan
ArtLords is a grassroots movement of artists and volunteers in Afghanistan who encourage ordinary citizens, especially women and children, to paint the issues that concern them on so-called blast walls: walls the country’s rich and the powerful have built around themselves to protect them from violence while the poor fend for themselves. Their work has turned a symbol of fear, tension and separation into a platform where social issues can be expressed visually and discussed in the street. ArtLords has completed over 400 murals in 16 provinces of Afghanistan. In March 2018, for International Women’s Day, ArtLords painted a tribute to Professor Hamida Barmaki, a human rights defender killed in a terrorist attack six years ago.
Full profile
Zehra Doğan | Turkey
Released from prison on 24 February 2019, Zehra Doğan is a Kurdish painter and journalist who, during her imprisonment, was denied access to materials for her work. She painted with dyes made from crushed fruit and herbs, even blood, and used newspapers and milk cartons as canvases. When she realised her reports from Turkey’s Kurdish region were being ignored by mainstream media, Doğan began painting the destruction in the town of Nusaybin and sharing it on social media. For this she was arrested and imprisoned. During her imprisonment she refused to be silenced and continued to produce journalism and art. She collected and wrote stories about female political prisoners, reported on human rights abuses in prison, and painted despite the prison administration’s refusal to supply her with art materials.
Full profile
ElMadina for Performing and Digital Arts | Egypt
ElMadina is a group of artists and arts managers who combine art and protest by encouraging Egyptians to get involved in performances in public spaces, defying the country’s restrictive laws. ElMadina’s work encourages participation — through storytelling, dance and theatre — to transform public spaces and marginalised areas in Alexandria and beyond into thriving environments where people can freely express themselves. Their work encourages free expression in a country in which public space is shrinking under the weight of government distrust of the artistic sector. ElMadina also carry out advocacy and research work and provide a physical space for training programmes, residencies and performances.
Full profile
Ms Saffaa | Saudi Arabia / Australia
Ms Saffaa is a self-exiled Saudi street artist living in Australia who uses murals to highlight women’s rights and human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. Collaborating with artists from around the world, she challenges Saudi authorities’ linear and limited narrative of women’s position in Saudi society and offers a counter-narrative through her art. Part of a new generation of Saudi activists who take to social media to spread ideas, Ms Saffaa’s work has acquired international reach. In November 2018, she collaborated with renowned American artist and writer Molly Crabapple on a mural celebrating murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that read, “We Saudis deserve better.”
Full profile
Campaigning
for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression
Cartoonists Rights Network International | United States / International
Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) is a small organisation with a big impact: monitoring threats and abuses against editorial cartoonists worldwide. Marshalling an impressive worldwide network, CRNI helps to focus international attention on cases in which cartoonists are persecuted and put pressure on the persecutors. CRNI tracks censorship, fines, penalties and physical intimidation – including of family members, assault, imprisonment and even assassinations. Once a threat is detected, CRNI often partners with other human rights organisations to maximise the pressure and impact of a campaign to protect the cartoonist and confront those who seek to censor political cartoonists.
Full profile
Institute for Media and Society | Nigeria
The Institute for Media and Society (IMS) is a Nigerian NGO that aims to improve the country’s media landscape by challenging government regulation and fostering the creation of community radio stations in rural areas at a time when local journalism globally is under threat. Three-quarters of television and radio stations in Nigeria are owned by politicians, and as a result they are divided along political lines, while rural communities are increasingly marginalised. IMS’s approach combines research and advocacy to challenge legal restrictions on the media as well as practical action to encourage Nigerians to use their voices, particularly via local radio. IMS also tracks violations of the rights of journalists in Nigeria.
Full profile
Media Rights Agenda | Nigeria
Media Rights Agenda (MRA) is a non-profit organisation that has spent the last two decades working to improve media freedom and freedom of expression in Nigeria by challenging the government in courts. While the constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, other laws – including the sections of the Criminal Code, the Cybercrimes Act and the Official Secrets Act – limit and even criminalise expression. Through its active legal team, MRA has initiated strategic litigation targeting dozens of institutions, politicians and officials to improve the country’s legal framework around media freedom. Its persistent campaigning and lawsuits on freedom of information have helped improve access to government-held data.
Full profile
P24 | Turkey
P24 (Platform for Independent Journalism) is a civil society organisation that aims to neutralise censorship in Turkey — a country in which speaking freely courts fines, arrest and lengthy jail sentences. P24’s pro bono legal team defends journalists and academics who are on trial for exercising their right to free expression. It also undertakes coordinated social media and public advocacy work that includes live-tweeting from courtrooms and campaigning through an array of websites, newsletters and exhibition spaces. Its latest effort aims to provide spaces for collaboration and free expression in the form of a literature house and a project connecting lawyers and artists.
Full profile
Digital Activism
for innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information
Fundación Karisma | Colombia
Fundación Karisma is a civil society organisation that challenges online trolls by using witty online ‘stamps’ that flag up internet abuse. It is an initiative that uses humour to draw attention to a serious problem: the growing online harassment of women in Colombia and its chilling effect. The organisation offers a rare space to discuss many issues at the intersection of human rights and technology in the country and then tackles them through a mix of research, advocacy and digital tools. Karisma’s “Sharing is not a crime” campaign supports open access to knowledge against the backdrop of Colombia’s restrictive copyright legislation.
Full profile
Mohammed Al-Maskati | Middle East
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13 Feb 19 | Magazine, News and features, Student Reading Lists
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Salman Rushdie. Credit: Fronteiras do Pensamento
On 14 February 1989 Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to execute author Salman Rushdie over the publication of The Satanic Verses, along with anyone else involved with the novel.
Published in the UK in 1988 by Viking Penguin, the book was met with widespread protest by those who accused Rushdie of blasphemy and unbelief. Death threats and a $6 million bounty on the author’s head saw him take on a 24-hour armed guard under the British government’s protection programme.
The book was soon banned in a number of countries, from Bangladesh to Venezuela, and many died in protests against its publication, including on 24 February when 12 people lost their lives in a riot in Bombay, India. Explosions went off across the UK, including at Liberty’s department store, which had a Penguin bookshop inside, and the Penguin store in York.
Book store chains including Barnes and Noble stopped selling the book, and copies were burned across the UK, first in Bolton where 7,000 Muslims gathered on 2 December 1988, then in Bradford in January 1989. In May 1989 between 15,000 to 20,000 people gathered in Parliament Square in London to burn Rushdie in effigy.
In October 1993, William Nygaard, the novel’s Norwegian publisher, was shot three times outside his home in Oslo and seriously injured.
Rushdie came out of hiding after nine years, but as recently as February 2016, money has been raised to add to the fatwa, reminding the author that for many the Ayatollah’s ruling still stands.
Here, 30 years on, Index on Censorship magazine highlights key articles from its archives from before, during and after the issue of the fatwa, including two from Rushdie himself.
Cuba today, the March 1989 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
World statement by the international committee for the defence of Salman Rushdie and his publishers
March 1989, vol. 18, issue 3
On 14 February the Ayatollah Khomeini called on all Muslims to seek out and execute Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, and all those involved in its publication. We, the undersigned, insofar as we defend the right to freedom of opinion and expression as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, declare that we also are involved in the publication. We are involved whether we approve the contents of the book or not. Nonetheless, we appreciate the distress the book has aroused and deeply regret the loss of life associated with the ensuing conflict.
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Islam & human rights, the May 1989 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
Pandora’s box forced open
Amir Taheri
May 1989, vol. 18, issue 5
‘What Rushdie has done, as far as Muslim intellectuals are concerned, is to put their backs to the wall and force them to make the choice they have tried to avoid for so long’. Last year, when poor old Mr Manavi filled in his Penguin order form for 10 copies of Salman Rushdie’s third novel, The Satanic Verses, he could not have imagined that the book, described by its publishers as a reflection on the agonies of exile, would provoke one of the most bizarre diplomatic incidents in recent times. Mr Manavi had been selling Penguin books in Tehran for years. He had learned which authors to regard as safe and which ones to avoid at all costs.
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Islam & human rights, the May 1989 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
Jihad for freedom
Wole Soyinka
May 1989, vol. 18, issue 5
This statement is not, of course, addressed to the Ayatollah Khomeini who, except for a handful of fanatics, is easily diagnosed as a sick and dangerous man who has long forgotten the fundamental tenets of Islam. It is useful to address oneself, at this point, only to the real Islamic faithful who, in their hearts, recognise the awful truth about their erratic Imam and the threat he poses not only to the continuing acceptance of Islam among people of all religions and faiths but to the universal brotherhood of man, no matter the differing colorations of their piety. Will Salman Rushdie die? He shall not. But if he does, let the fanatic defenders of Khomeini’s brand of Islam understand this: The work for which he is now threatened will become a household icon within even the remnant lifetime of the Ayatollah. Writers, cineastes, dramatists will disseminate its contents in every known medium and in some new ones as yet unthought of.
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South Africa after Apartheid, the April 1990 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
Reflections on an invalid fatwah
Amir Taheri
April 1990, vol. 19, issue 4
Broadly speaking, three predictions were made. The first was that Khomeini’s attempt at exporting terror might goad world public opinion into a keener understanding of Iran’s tragedy since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The fact that the Ayatollah had executed thousands of people, including many writers and poets since his seizure of power in Tehran had provoked only mild rebuke from Western governments and public opinion. With the fatwa against Rushdie, we thought the whole world would mobilise against the ayatollah, turning his regime into an international pariah. Nothing of the kind happened, of course, and only one country, Britain, closed its embassy in Tehran – and that because the mullahs decided to sever.diplomatic ties. In the past twelve months Federal Germany and France have increased their trade with the Islamic Republic to the tune of II and 19 per cent respectively. The EEC countries and Japan have, in the meantime, provided the Islamic Republic with loans exceeding £2,000 million. The stream of European and Japanese businessmen and diplomats visiting Tehran turned into a mini-flood after Khomeini’s death last June.
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South Africa after Apartheid, the April 1990 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
Salman Rushdie and political expediency
Adel Darwish
April 1990, vol. 19, issue 4
When I reviewed Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses in September 1988, it never crossed my mind to make any reference to possible offence to Muslim readers, let alone to anticipate the unprecedented international crisis generated in the months that followed. I do not think I was naive – as an LBC radio reporter suggested when she interviewed me at the first public reading from The Satanic Verses in June 1989. On the contrary, I can claim more than many that I am able to understand what Mr Rushdie was trying to say in his book, and the way the crisis has developed. Like Mr Rushdie, I am a British writer, born to a Muslim family. Born in Egypt, I was educated and am employed in Britain, and have been preoccupied and engaged, mainly in the 1960s and 1970s, with the issues that Mr Rushdie has fought for and with which he seemed to be very much concerned in his book.
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Azerbaijan, the February 1991 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
My decision
Salman Rushdie
February 1991, vol. 20, issue 2
A man’s spiritual choices are a matter of conscience, arrived at after deep. reflection and in the privacy of his heart. They are not easy matters to speak of publicly. I should like, however, to say something about my decision to affirm the two central tenets of Islam — the oneness of God and the genuineness of the prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad —and thus to enter into the body of Islam after a lifetime spent outside it. Although I come from a Muslim family background, I was never brought up as a believer, and was raised in an atmosphere of what is broadly known as secular humanism. I still have the deepest respect for these principles. However, as I think anyone who studies my work will accept, I have been engaging more and more with religious belief, its importance and power, ever since my first novel used the Sufi poem Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-din Attar as a model. The Satanic Verses itself, with its portrait of the conflicts between the material and spiritual worlds, is a mirror of the conflict within myself.
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20th Anniversary: Reign of terror, the June 1992 issue of the Index on Censorship magazine.
Offending the high priests
Gunter Grass
June 1992, vol. 21, issue 6
When George Orwell returned from Spain in 1937, he brought with him the manuscript of Homage to Catalonia. It reflected the experiences he had gathered during the Civil War. At first, he was unable to find a publisher because a multitude of influential, left-wing intellectuals had no wish to acknowledge its shocking observations. They did not want to accept the Stalinist terror, the systematic liquidation of anarchists, Trotskyists and left-wing socialists. Orwell himself only narrowly escaped this terror. His stark accusations contradicted a world image of a flawless Soviet Union fighting against Fascism. Orwell’s report, this onslaught of terrible reality, tarnished the picture-book dream of Good and Evil. A year later, a bourgeois Western publisher brought out Homage to Catalonia; in the areas of Communist rule, Orwell’s works – among them the bitter Spanish truth – were banned for half a century. The minister responsible for state security= in the German Democratic Republic, right to its end, was Erich Mielke. During the Spanish Civil War, he was a member of the Communist cadre to whom purge through liquidation became commonplace. A fighter for Spain with an extraordinary capacity for survival.
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Russia’s choice, the November-December 1993 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
The Rushdie affair: Outrage in Oslo
Hakon Harket
November 1993, vol. 22, issue 10
The terrorist state of Iran must face the consequences of refusing to lift the fatwa that condemns Salman Rushdie, and those associated with his work, to death. When someone, in accordance with the express order of the fatwa, attempts to murder one of the damned, the obvious consequence is that Iran must be held responsible for the crime it has called for, at least until there is conclusive proof that no connection exists. The shooting of William Nygaard has reminded the Norwegian public of what the Rushdie affair is really about: life and death; the abuse of religion; the fiction of a free mind. This war of terror against freedom of speech is not one we can afford to lose. Since the nightmare clearly will not disappear of its own accord, it must be engaged head-on.
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New censors, the March 1996 issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
From Salman Rushdie
March 1996, vol. 25, issue 2
This statement is not, of course, addressed to the Ayatollah Khomeini who, except for a handful of fanatics, is easily diagnosed as a sick and dangerous man who has long forgotten the fundamental tenets of Islam. It is useful to address oneself, at this point, only to the real Islamic faithful who, in their hearts, recognise the awful truth about their erratic Imam and the threat he poses not only to the continuing acceptance of Islam among people of all religions and faiths but to the universal brotherhood of man, no matter the differing colorations of their piety. Will Salman Rushdie die? He shall not. But if he does, let the fanatic defenders of Khomeini’s brand of Islam understand this: The work for which he is now threatened will become a household icon within even the remnant lifetime of the Ayatollah. Writers, cineastes, dramatists will disseminate its contents in every known medium and in some new ones as yet unthought of.
Read the full article
Shadow of the Fatwa
Kenan Malik
December 2008, vol. 37, issue 4
The Satanic Verses was, Salman Rushdie said in an interview before publication, a novel about ‘migration, metamorphosis, divided selves, love, death’. It was also a satire on Islam, ‘a serious attempt’, in his words, ‘to write about religion and revelation from the point of view of a secular person’. For some that was unacceptable, turning the novel into ‘an inferior piece of hate literature’ as the British-Muslim philosopher Shabbir Akhtar put it. Within a month, The Satanic Verses had been banned in Rushdie’s native India, after protests from Islamic radicals. By the end of the year, protesters had burnt a copy of the novel on the streets of Bolton, in northern England. And then, on 14 February 1989, came the event that transformed the Rushdie affair – Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa.’I inform all zealous Muslims of the world,’ proclaimed Iran’s spiritual leader, ‘that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses – which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the prophet and the Quran – and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its contents are sentenced to death.’
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The right to publish
Peter Mayer
December 2008, vol. 37, issue 4
As publisher of The Satanic Verses, Peter Mayer was on the front line. He writes here for the first time about an unprecedented crisis:
Penguin published Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses six months before Ayatollah Khomeini issues his fatwa. When we decided to continue publishing the novel in the aftermath, extraordinary pressures were focused on our company, based on fears for the author’s life and for the lives of everyone at Penguin around the world. This extended from Penguin’s management to editorial, warehouse, transport, administrative staff, the personnel in our bookshops and many others. The long-term political implications of that early signal regarding free speech in culturally diverse societies were not yet apparent to many when the Ayatollah, speaking not only for Iran but, seemingly, for all of Islam, issued his religious proclaimation.
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Emblem of darkness
Bernard-Henri Lévy
December 2008, vol. 37, issue 4
As publisher of The Satanic Verses, Peter Mayer was on the front line. He writes here for the first time about an unprecedented crisis:
Salman Rushdie was not yet the great man of letters that he has since become. He and I are, though, pretty much the same age. We share a passion for India and Pakistan, as well as the uncommon privilege of having known and written about Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Rushdie in Shame; I in Les Indes Rouges), the father of Benazir, former prime minister of Pakistan, executed ten years earlier in 1979 by General Zia. I had been watching from a distance, with infinite curiosity, the trajectory of this almost exact contemporary. One day, in February 1989, at the end of the afternoon, as I sat in a cafe in the South of France, in Saint Paul de Vence, with the French actor Yves Montand, sipping an orangeade, I heard the news: Ayatollah Khomeini, himself with only a few months to live, had just issued a fatwa, in which he condemned as an apostate the author of The Satanic Verses and invited all Muslims the world over to carry out the sentence, without delay.
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