On Tuesday, April 24, 2001, at a discussion of the report on the freedom of speech and information in the mass media in Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) supported the amendment where it expresses concern in connection with recent developments in Russia.

In particular the amendment states the concern of PACE over the "take-over by force" of the only independent national channel (the NTV), the closure of the Segodnya newspaper and dismissal of the journalists at Itogi magazine.

The document states that "the attacks against the freedom of speech and mass media in Russia" had been undertaken "with the participation of the authorities", and contradicted the basic principles of the Council of Europe and violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The amendment was supported by 74 deputies of PACE out of a total of 104 voting deputies, 26 deputies voted against and 4 abstained.

Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Unity faction Alexandra Buratayeva spoke against the adoption of this amendment.

A member of the delegation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in PACE, First Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction Sergei Ivanenko said by phone that during the consideration of the report "On the Situation with the Mass Media in Europe" (including Russia), the PACE session had adopted "a corresponding resolution, and two amendments that we proposed were included into its text".

The first amendment supported by PACE deputies expressed "great concern" in connection with the recent developments around the NTV television company, as well as the Segodnya newspaper and the Itogi magazine.

"Here on our initiative it was stated that "the attacks against the freedom of speech and freedom of the mass media in Russia contradict the basic principles of the Council of Europe and violate Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights," stressed Ivanenko.

"The overwhelming majority of the deputies present at the session also supported our second amendment to the resolution, whereby PACE instructs its Monitoring Commission to "pay special attention to the freedom of the mass media," noted Ivanenko.

According to Ivanenko, another member of the Yabloko faction Alexander Shishlov made a speech at the PACE session. Shishlov noted that "the member states of the Council of Europe bear responsibility for the observation of the rights of citizens to objective and independent information and the exercise of the rights of journalists to engage in their professional activity."

Based on the Interfax reports.

See also:

Vladimir Lukin discussed the problem of the freedom of speech in Russia
with representatives of the European parliament - Press Release April 23, 2001

NTV case

Members of the Russian delegation from the Yabloko faction in PACE rate positively the decision of the Assembly on the Russian mass media