| Deputy Head of the YABLOKO party Sergei
Mitrokhin perceives political motives behind the criminal
case against the former heads of the Noviye Izvestia newspaper I.Golembiovsky
and S. Agafonov. Sergei Mitrokhin expressed this opinion live on the Ekho
Moskvi radio station.
"We live de facto in a state governed by the secret services. In
the given situation, in view of recent developments, in particular, the
extremely harsh sentence given to Igor Sutyagin, we cannot trust any criminal
trial against any politician or editor of an independent media, or individual
who expresses views which differ from those of the authorities,"
noted Mitrokhin.
Often the criminal cases against economic subjects, commercial structures
were "either forgotten or collapsed on their own, or were given a
push," said Mitrokhin. "In this case we are witnessing surprising
persistence from the law and enforcement agencies." The Deputy Head
of YABLOKO also noted that he could not rule out "that such persistence
is connected to the fact that Golembiovsky was the editor of an independent
media which had independent sources of financing and expressed an independent
position."
He concluded: " The authorities probably want to demonstrate their
ability to apply repressive measures at any moment against a specific
independent media and are consequently so persistent in their actions now." I. Golembiovsky is Editor-in-Chief of the
"Russkiy Kurier" newspaper.
See also:
Freedom
of Speech and Media Law in Russia
Human Rights
| 