CPJ and CJES call on President Bush to raise press freedom at meeting with President PutinSeptember 24, 2003
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Via Facsimile: 202-456-2461
Dear President Bush:
In advance of your September 26-27 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Camp David, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organization of journalists dedicated to defending our colleagues worldwide, and the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situation (CJES), a Moscow-based press freedom organization, would like to draw your attention to the deterioration of press freedom conditions in Russia. Of particular concern are new pressures on the media as Russia heads into December parliamentary elections and March presidential elections.
Since taking office in December 1999, President Putin has overseen an alarming assault on Russia’s independent press that has limited media pluralism and curtailed direct criticism of the president and his policies. These developments jeopardize Russia’s future stability and prosperity, because without a free press to promote accountability, the country’s weak judiciary, corrupt bureaucracy, unaccountable police and security forces, quasi-democratic elections, and politicized media regulators are unlikely to be reformed.
In advance of the elections, the Kremlin has tightened already stringent controls over the domestic press. In particular, we would like to draw your attention to the following government policies:
Impunity—Independent journalists continue to be murdered with complete impunity because police, prosecutors, and courts have failed to properly investigate and prosecute these crimes. One of the few cases that has gone to trial during the last decade, the October 1994 assassination of Dmitry Kholodov, a reporter for the independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets who had investigated corruption in the Defense Ministry, took six years to go before the courts and has yet to produce a conviction. Police have also not reported any progress in investigating the July 4 abduction of Agence France-Presse correspondent Ali Astamirov in the southern republic of Ingushetia.
There have been a dozen journalists killed in Russia between 2000 and 2003 (see attached list). In each case, the murderer has not been brought to justice. This culture of impunity sends a shocking message to the world of Russia’s indifference to press freedom.
Broadcast Media—The Kremlin and its allies have closed or taken control of all independent national television stations that had previously provided Russia’s citizens with alternative sources of news. Most recently, the Media Ministry pulled the independent television station TVS off the air on June 21 without obtaining a court order and replaced it with Sport TV, a state-run sports channel. Media Minister Mikhail Lesin ordered TV-6 off the air in January 2002 following a legal battle between the television network and the oil giant LUKOIL, a Kremlin ally. The government-controlled gas giant Gazprom took over NTV from media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky in an April 2001 boardroom coup.
Criminal Defamation—Russia’s Criminal Code contains criminal defamation laws that are used to stifle critical news reporting. German Galkin, the publisher of Rabochaya Gazeta and deputy chief editor of Vecherny Chelyabinsk, both opposition newspapers in the southern Urals city of Chelyabinsk, was convicted of criminal defamation on August 15, 2003, in a trial that was closed to the public. Galkin was sentenced to one year in a labor camp for allegedly writing anonymous articles that were published in Rabochaya Gazeta about government misspending in the Chelyabinsk regional administration.
Chechnya—The Kremlin continues to maintain a tight information blockade on Chechnya by restricting journalists’ access to the region and limiting reporting on the conflict, all the while claiming that life in the republic is returning to normal. During the last nine months, the Kremlin has pressed neighboring countries to shut down the pro-independence Chechen Web site KavkazCenter (www.kavkazcenter.com), and the Media Ministry issued an official warning to the Moscow-based ultra-nationalist weekly Zavtra on February 26 for publishing an interview with an exiled Chechen separatist leader.
Military—The government continues to persecute journalists for exposing corruption and wrongdoing in the country’s powerful military, police, and security ministries. Grigory Pasko, a former military journalist for the Pacific Fleet’s newspaper Boyevaya Vakhta, served two and a half years in prison after being wrongfully convicted for treason in December 2001. He was imprisoned in retaliation for exposing environmental abuses committed by the military. Pasko was released in January 2003, but authorities denied him a travel passport in March 2003. In August, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal challenging his criminal conviction.
Police—Police officers continue to abuse journalists investigating police activities or criticizing law enforcement officials. Among examples in recent months: On February 16, an Interior Ministry unit in the Chechen capital of Grozny detained and assaulted Zamid Ayubov, a journalist for the local pro-Russian administration’s thrice weekly Vozrozhdeniye Chechni, while he was researching the activities of police units during evening patrols. On May 6, some 40 police officers fired tear gas and stormed the temporary office of the opposition radio station Krasnaya Armiya in the city of Noyabrsk, in the central Ural Region, which had supported an opposition candidate in the May 4 elections. Police officers handcuffed, assaulted, and detained staff members for several hours.
Media Restrictions—The Duma passed media legislation in June, signed into law by President Putin in July, granting broad, excessive, and arbitrary authority to the Media Ministry, Central Election Commissions, and regional electoral commissions to shutter media outlets for printing or broadcasting “biased” political commentary during the forthcoming elections. These restrictions severely hamper news coverage.
All of the previous cases contravene international standards of freedom of expression, as guaranteed under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, which Russia ratified in 1976. They also violate domestic Russian law, including the constitution and the Criminal Code.
Putin’s administration has demonstrated some sensitivity to international public opinion when dealing with the country’s independent national broadcasters, resulting in a shift from blatant pressure to more subtle and covert tactics. While the closure of TVS and TV-6 and the takeover of NTV during the last two-and-a-half years demonstrate the Kremlin’s intolerance for criticism in the national broadcast media, it also highlights the Kremlin’s willingness to paint outright repression as seemingly apolitical business disputes that are settled through the selective enforcement of laws. The recently enacted media restrictions are yet another legal tool to encourage self-censorship in the independent media.
These policies have a tremendous impact on Russian society. In the short term, coverage and debate will be hindered in these important elections. And in the long term, these policies threaten progress toward the free and open dialogue that democratic societies need in order to grapple with problems confronting Russia such as the war in Chechnya and high-level government corruption.
We hope that you will realize the importance of speaking out forcefully against ongoing press freedom abuses in Russia and will communicate your concerns about criminal defamation, impunity, and media restrictions to President Putin during your meeting.
Please do not hesitate to contact our office if you would like further information. Thank you for your attention to this important matter; we await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper, Executive Director of
the Committee to Protect Journalists
Oleg Panfilov, Director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations
Appendix: Journalists Killed in Russia 2000-2003
Source: CPJ/CJES (T) |
