Violations of journalists´ rights in Chechnya – May 2003Monitoring press violations and conflicts connected to media coverage of events in the Chechen Republic in May 2003 Compiled by the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations. Translated by Prague Watchdog.
May 5
The German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau announced that its Moscow correspondent Florian Hassel and his colleague Thomas Avenarius of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, received the “Guardians of the Daily Press“ award, which is given for reporting on relevant and timely issues. They have been working as a team for the past three years in Chechnya and so were rewarded for bravely investigating human rights violations, specifically about “death squads“ operating there.
May 5
The Tverskoi Court of Moscow held a hearing on a charge brought by the Russian Press Ministry against the Russian newspaper Zavtra, based on the Federal Law on “Combating Extremist Activity.“ Alexander Prokhanov, the editor-in-chief, defended the right to publish his debate with Akhmed Zakayev, a representative of Aslan Maskhadov, “In Time for London, Too Early for Moscow,“ and requested that the charge be dropped. The court refused, claiming that the article caused negative reactions among the public against the Chechen people.
May 6
Alexander Grushko, head of the Russian Interior Ministry´s Pan-European Cooperation Department announced that Moscow relies on supportive measures taken by the OBSE to reinstate peace in Chechnya. He said that cooperation has already been well defined whereby their experience may become useful, and specifically cited support for the Chechen mass media.
May 6 – 21
The Secretary of the Chechen Ministry for Mass Media, Alikhan Balayev, announced that a new publishing company, Groznensky Rabochy, will be launched soon, which happened on May 21, and that using new POG-60 and Offset-52 printers will enable the company to publish full-colour newspapers in the A3 format. Thereafter, Chechen newspapers began to be printed in Grozny. The new equipment not only provides better print quality, but also speeds up the entire process.
May 6 – May 30
A group of Russian human rights activists presented a paper to the Russian authorities in which they asked if it was true that one of their members was among the attackers of the Dubrovka theatre in October last year. The question was prompted by Anna Politkovskaya´s article in Novaya Gazeta in which she claimed Khanpash Terkibayev, one of the assailants in that incident, is now a correspondent for one of the newspapers run by the government, and that he is also connected to the President´s administration. According to her, he was also a member of a Russian delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
The document, signed by Lev Levinson, Lev Ponomaryov, Yury Samodurov and Alexander Tkachenko, requests that officials respond to the queries on whether or not Terkibayev is being prosecuted, and if it is true he is connected to them. The signatories referred to Article 24 of the Russian Constitution which states, that, “the authorities must grant each citizen an opportunity to see and examine all the material related to his or her rights and freedoms.
Politkovskaya admitted in an interview with Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, editor-in-chief of the information centre of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship, that she had earlier denied that Russian intelligence services may have taken part in this terrorist attack. But last January her editors received information proving that the Russian intelligence did, indeed, play a role in the attack. She added that “depending on what measures our government is prepared to take in this matter, more information will be published later.“
On May 19 the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship announced that Politkovskaya’s version of events is probably accurate. They believe that inactivity of law enforcement agencies and the authorities silence on this issue confirm the worst suspicions one may have regarding the part Russian intelligence played in the attack; and perhaps they may have even had a hand in planning the bombings of residential buildings in Russian cities in the fall of 1999. The Society believes President Putin “no longer has the moral right to be head of the Russian state, since he exercises neither absolute control over the intelligence services, nor of his immediate surroundings.“
Isa Temirov, vice-speaker of the Parliament of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, held a press conference in Moscow on May 30. Earlier he, and several other MPs, expressed support for the Federal Center’s activities in Chechnya. But now Temirov said he was glad that some newspapers do not reach Chechnya, alluding to Politkovskaya´s articles in Novaya Gazeta about the investigation of the Dubrovka terrorist attack. He was especially outraged by her claims that Khanpash Terkibayev was involved in the hostage taking, claiming that when this assault took place, Terkibayev was in Baku. He then added that, “this journalist‘s accusations are rubbish and she is just trying to pour oil on troubled waters.“
May 12 – 20
In connection to the massive terrorist attack in Znamenskoye, the head of the Chechen administration Akhmad Kadyrov banned all festivities from taking place throughout the three days following the attack. Local TV stations were advised to revise their scheduling, and to cancel all entertainment programming----chapters from the Koran would be read each evening instead.
Another large-scale terrorist attack took place May 14 in the village of Iliskhan-Yurt in the Gudermes district. The following day Liza Tokasheva, the Chechen Press Minister’s secretary, categorically denied that the two female suicide bombers were members of the Chechen journalists union. Apparently investigators had eyewitness reports that the women presented themselves as journalists at the religious celebration in Iliskhan-Yurt. According to Ahmed Abastov, head of the Gudermes district administration, a TV camera was found alongside the bodies of the slain women, which they had evidently used to gain entry to the platform where festival guests had assembled.
However, after the attack both the military and police began a thorough investigation of all Chechen female journalists. On May 19 Aset Murtazaliyeva, a correspondent for Groznensky Rabochy was flatly denied admission to the Chechen Press Ministry. Security guards claimed that her documents and authorization were loaded with “inconsistencies“ and promptly tore up her ID card.
The next day Satzita Isayeva, editor of Golos Chechenskoi Respubliki, and his colleagues were subjected to an hour long search at the Kavkaz checkpoint, which included confiscating all their editorial material. The soldiers set about to thoroughly inspect the car by examining its engine, pulling out the back seats, rummaging through the trunk, and emptying the contents of all the journalists´ bags, without any explanation offered as to why this was being done. When fellow journalists tried to show Isayeva´s official authorisation, this only angered them more; nevertheless, once the search was completed, they were allowed to leave. But before driving off, one of the soldiers curtly told them, “That´s it, you’ve had your day in the sun; from now on I’m only going to let someone through who has a special permit. It´s time we put your lot in its place!“
These journalists stated that, “prior to this, the military only harrassed foreign journalists, but now they’re going to go after the locals as well.“ According to them, the military is annoyed by the spate of articles that recently appeared in the local press, criticizing its practices.
May 14
Ismail Munayev, head of the Chechen section of the Russian Ministry for the Press and Mass Media, announced that the number of the country´s newspapers has considerably increased. He said that when the Chechen Press Ministry was reorganized earlier this year, it resulted in some of the regional newspapers becoming inter-regional, while the others became independent, such as Terkiist, Iman, Khalkian Dosh, and Terskaia Nov.
According to Munayev, several organizations and bureaus started publishing their own papers, such as Ring (Chechen Boxing Federation), Universitetski Vestnik (Chechen State University) and Biosfer (Dept. of Environmental Protection). And the first issues of Raian and Stomatologia will shortly be on the newsstands. Because less than one thousand copies are printed, these papers do not have to be registered he stated, adding that by the end of the year there will be at least ten independent newspapers and three magazines in Chechnya, as well as 10 TV channels.
Munayev also announced that regarding the television tender, only three Chechen TV companies will be able to take part: the Chechen State TV and Radio Company, the Grozny Broadcasting Company, and the Vainakh Company. According to Munayev, these three are the only ones authorized to broadcast in the Chechen Republic. From the data provided by the ministry, 31 stations are presently registered in Chechnya, 28 of which are local and broadcast within city boundaries, and all have applied for licences.
May 14 – 29
After more than two weeks of non-activity, the Chechen separatist website “Kavkaz-center“ is back again on the Internet. When Russian authorities insisted they leave Estonia, they moved to Lithuania whereupon the site’s editor-in-chief Yusuf Ibragim immediately granted an interview to the Ukrainian newspaper Noviny Ukrainy.
On May 29 Russian human rights activists announced, that university students in Grozny were expressly forbidden to log onto the Kavkaz-center site. According to this source, an Internet cafe had opened in Grozny that granted free access to students and employees of the Chechen State University. However, a sign posted at the entrance implicitly forbids Internet users to visit this website, and anyone found breaking this rule is blacklisted.
May 21
The Federal Tender Commission announced the outcome of the TV and radio broadcasting tender in Grozny. Mikhail Seslavinski, Russian Deputy Press Minister said that the Commission had been considering requests for radio broadcasting on the 69.17 MHz frequency; and of the two competitors, only Radio Rossii came to the hearing and thus won the tender.
Ekho Moskvy’s General Manager, Yury Fedutinov, had withdrawn the application saying that their major shareholder, Gazprom-Media, deemed it necessary that future financing be cut back. “So it was decided not to participate in the tender, as we have no economic need or interest at this time to operate in Grozny.“
The Federal Tender Comission had also considered requests for the 36th TV channel in Grozny. As Seslavinski pointed out, there was only one candidate from the onset: the state-owned Grozny Broadcasting Company, which won the support of all the Commission members. As they understand it, the company will be on the air 42 hours a week, 6 hours a day from 6pm to midnight, and will only run programmes they themselves have produced. Among them will be a 10 minute newscast and a 30 minute summary programme Itogi nedeli, in both Russian and Chechen. They will also produce several shows primarily aimed at youngsters and teenagers.
May 22
Radio Svoboda aired a programme entitled “Chechnya: A Version for the Media“ produced by Yelena Rykovtseva who stated that the Russian press “is incredibly gullible, as they often reprint official versions word for word, without any added commentary, so one can’t help but laugh when reading this stuff.“ The programme featured Lyudmila Averina, a special correspondent from the weekly Argumenty i fakty, who added that the official responses of the authorities “are almost always miles apart from the true state of affairs in Chechnya.“
May 30
Rostov-on-Don hosted a conference organized by the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations. Journalists from many regions, including Chechnya, took part in the project “Know Your Rights.“ The issues discussed were on international and local legal systems, comparing Russian and foreign experiences, and defending the rights of journalists. The conference stressed that journalists must fight for their rights by being “actively non-violent.“ Thus in the case of injustice, the public´s attention must be made to focus on the legal activities of the journalist or newspaper. Among those present were the Centre’s director Oleg Panfilov, and their legal expert Boris Panteleyev.
May 30
Edi Isayev, head of the Office of Permanent Representation of the Chechen Republic of the Russian President, announced that Chechnya´s inadequate information network will make it impossible to carry news of the upcoming amnesty to all its viewers and listeners; especially since there are entire areas without radio or TV coverage. And the zone in which guerillas are located has no access to any information channels at all, thus everything is relayed by way of mouth, from one person to another. But this is time consuming and Isayev is worried that the timeframe for communicating news about the amnesty will not be long enough.
Compiled by Ilya Maksakov. Based on material from the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, CJES expert on Chechnya and Ingushetia Tamerlan Aliyev; news agencies Interfax, ITAR-TASS, RIA Novosti, Prima; newpapers: Kommersant, Obshchaya Gazeta, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Novaya Gazeta; radio stations: Echo Moskvy and Svoboda; and Internet publications Strana.ru, Regiony.ru, Chechenpress, and Kavkazski Vestnik. (B/E,T,A) |
