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Sergei Ivanenko: ordinary citizens may follow Vladimir Gusinsky-s way

Grigory Yavlinsky thinks that the action against Vladimir Gusinsky is targeted at intimidating society and the mass media

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Press release, 14.06.2000

 

Leaders of the Yabloko, SPS and OVR factions declare that the arrest of Gusinsky is splitting society and discrediting the country

On June 14, 2000 a meeting was held between the leaders of three factions of the State Duma - the Yabloko, SPS and OVR factions - to discuss the arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky (Ed. Head of a major independent media holding).

After the meeting the Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Irina Khakamada (SPS), and deputy heads of the Yabloko and Fatherland-All Russia (OVR) factions, Sergei Ivanenko and Vyacheslav Volodin made the following statement:

  1. We demand an immediate assessment of the situation by President Putin.
  2. Recent developments concerning not only Vladimir Gusinsky and his media holding, but also TVCentr (Ed. TV company), Novaya Gazeta (Ed. popular independent newspaper) and the journalist Andrei Babitsky raise the question about the spirit and letter of the three draft laws submitted by the President to the State Duma and on the rationality of according huge rights to the Public Prosecutor General to dismiss the heads of local self-government and governors envisaged by these drafts. The draft laws will be examined at the meeting of the Yabloko, SPS and OVR factions, with due account of the policies of the authorities towards the mass media as well as the arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky.
  3. We think that the present situation seriously discredits the country and leads to split in society.
  4. The heads of the Yabloko, SPS and OVR factions are ready to provide personal guarantees for Vladimir Gusinsky, if the repressive measures against Gusinsky are replaced by a written undertaking from Gusinsky not to leave the country. We guarantee that Vladimir Gusinsky will not leave the country and will participate in an open trial. The first Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction Sergei Ivanenko called the arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky a political event, a boiling pot in a situation that has been fanned by the authorities. He also stressed that the declaration of the leaders of the Yabloko, SPS and OVR factions is open.

We invite all the factions, including the CPRF and other factions of the State Duma to join us, in order to prevent the disintegration of the country into rule by grey cardinals, added Ivanenko.

Heads of four deputies’ associations of the State Duma call for immediate release of Vladimir Gusinsky from prison

On June 14, 2000, the leaders of four deputies’ associations of the State Duma made a joint statement on the need “to urgently accept the proposals of a number of well-known Russian politicians and release Vladimir Gusinsky under their personal guarantees”.

At the same time, it was also proposed that any further investigations of Vladimir Gusinsky’s and other cases should be conducted in the conditions of “maximum openness”.

“Only then will we be able to avoid the damage to the state's prestige inside the country and abroad - Only then will we be able to preserve the social accord that has developed in the country with regards the presidential initiatives in reforming the structures of state power,” the authors of the statement stressed.

The statement was signed by the leader of the OVR faction Evgeni Primakov (the text of the statement was agreed by phone with Evgeni Primakov who is accompanying Vladimir Putin on his visit to Spain), the Deputy Speaker of the Duma from the SPS faction Irina Khakamada, Deputy Speaker from the Yabloko faction Vladimir Lukin, and the Head of the group “Regions of Russia” Oleg Morozov.

“We have no reason to doubt Vladimir Putin’s words that he did not know about the preparations for the arrest [of Gusinsky], but this leads to another question : who is interested in a split in society at the very moment when the President of Russia is conducting such complicated reforms,” the authors of the statements ask.

The document also covers a number of other issues, including the following: “whether this arrest is a political act”. The authors of the statement do not rule out such a possibility, referring to the fact that the arrest of Vladimir Gusinsky coincided with a period when the head of the state was “on a visit abroad, and the deputies of the State Duma were working in their electoral districts” (Ed. when the Duma had no sessions and deputies were on temporary leave).

“We have been declaring the equality of the citizens before the law irrespective of their capital and the degree of their proximity to power, but do the forms and methods of the investigation applied to the head of a well-known independent holding, Media-Most, represent a threat to the freedom of speech and the development of business?”

This question is also posed by the heads of the four deputies’ associations of the Duma. They also stressed that all these questions require immediate answers. As it has become known from a well-informed source in the parliament, the initiative to adopt such a document came from the leader of the OVR faction Evgeni Primakov. Copies of the joint statement of the leaders of the four deputies’ associations were also forwarded to the other factions and deputies’ groups of the Duma with the proposal to join this document. Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

Sergei Ivanenko: ordinary citizens may follow Vladimir Gusinsky-s way

Grigory Yavlinsky thinks that the action against Vladimir Gusinsky is targeted at intimidating society and the mass media

 

Vladimir Lukin supports the appointment of Akhmad Kadyrov as Head of the Administration of Chechnya

Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Vladimir Lukin, (the Yabloko faction) supports the appointment of Mufti Akhmad Kadyrov as Head of the Administration of Chechnya. This statement was made by Vladimir Lukin late on June 12, 2000 in an interview with the press in St.Petersburg: he had come to the city to participate in the session of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS.

At the same time Lukin said that he did not advocate here the appointment of a representative of the clergy as the head of a republic.

I doubt that the leaders of other world confessions will support this, added Vladimir Lukin.

However, Vladimir Lukin said that it would be a great disappointment, if the choice was some of the army Generals.

Therefore, he added, in this specific situation the appointment of Mufti Kadyrov is the best option.

At the same time Lukin said that it was unlikely that the Mufti would be able to consolidate the whole population of Chechnya around him.

But he expressed his view that the appointment of Akhmad Kadyrov is a step towards the creation of a civil administration instead of the previous entity that had existed.

Lukin wished Akhmad Kadyrov success and expressed the hope that the administration headed by the Mufti will not tolerate a confrontation between the federal centre and the army.

I would like to believe that Akhmad Kadyrov will manage to preserve the state integrity of Russia, where Chechnya would be free within the framework of the Constitution of Russia.

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

War in Chechnya