Ukrainian editor on trial for doubting 1930s genocide

15 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized

Sergei Shvedko, chief editor of the Rodnoye Priyapovye, is to go on trial for expressing doubts that the Holodomor — the 1930s famine in which millions of Ukranian starved to death because of  the policies of Joseph Stalin  — was genocide aimed against the Ukrainian people. Former President Yushchenko’s “Our Ukraine” party bought about the legal action claiming Shvedko denigrated Ukrainians’ dignity, dishonoured of the memory of the famine’s victims and denied the famine was genocide. Holodomor denial outlawed in Ukraine.

Berlusconi silences TV critics

12 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized

Prime minister Silvio Belusconi’s party has pushed through rules which will drastically circumscribe political content during the run-up to Italy’s regional elections. State broadcasters must now either accommodate over 30 political parties on their talk shows or be transferred away from their prime-time slots. Belusconi has previously attacked state television, claiming the programme Annozero was a ‘criminal use of public television’ when it interviewed the call-girl Belusconi had allegedly slept with. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) criticised Italy’s new rules as the latest ‘nail in the coffin of media freedom‘.

Chinese safety campaigner referred to prosecutors

5 Feb 2010 | Index Index, minipost, Uncategorized

Police have referred to prosecutors the case of a father who campaigned over the 2008 melamine milk contamination. Zhao Lianhai, whose own child was made ill by the melamine contamination, is accused of trying to provoke social disorder. He has been detained by police since November. Chinese officials have since banned independent reporting on the latest toxic food scandal involving the chemical blamed for the deaths of six babies in 2008.