President Vladimir Putin
The Kremlin
Moscow
Russian Federation
Fax: ( 011.7.095) 206-6277 or 5173
Your Excellency:
Growing governmental control and deterioration of independent media and freedom of expression in Russia were demonstrated dramatically on June 1, 2004 when NTV, one of your country@quot;s leading TV channels, was compelled to ban Namedni , its popular news program and to fire the station@quot;s prominent journalist, Leonid Parfyonov.
The TV program that led to the critical events at NTV included an exclusive interview with the widow of Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, killed in Qatar last February. Mr. Parfyonov was fired after he protested NTV executives@quot; order not to air the program in Moscow. The station@quot;s banning order was made under pressure from Russia@quot;s security services, who feared that the broadcast could create problems for two Russian émigrés on trial in Qatar, where they were charged with Yandarbiev@quot;s murder.
The program had already been aired on Sunday, May 30, in Russia@quot;s far eastern provinces. But it was banned at the last moment before it could be shown in Moscow for viewing in the European part of Russia. This happened even though Article 29 of Russia@quot;s constitution bans censorship and guarantees freedom of expression. In reporting this tragic development, London@quot;s Financial Times stated very accurately on June 2, ?Russia@quot;s fragile freedom of speech was dealt a heavy blow? by the censorship at NTV.
We deplore this attack on the media with particular sadness — because we recall that soon after you became president of the Russian Federation, you portrayed yourself as a protector of human liberty, in particular freedom of the press. Now that you have been re-elected with the support of 70 percent of the voters, and with your supporters holding more than two-thirds of the seats in the Duma, you can surely back your statement with concrete action.
We join the Committee to Protect Journalists in deploring the deteriorating condition of press freedom in Russia. Our non-partisan organization, which has defended press freedom around the world for more than 60 years, reports that the incidence of murder, violent attacks, censorship and other harassment of journalists in Russia have continued. According to the U.S. State Department@quot;s most recent report on Human Rights Practices in Russia, issued on February 25, 2004, the Glasnost Defense Foundation in Moscow found that 10 journalists were killed in 2003 under mysterious circumstances, and 96 were physically attacked.
Some of the violent attacks on journalists in recent months include :
On May 10, Adlan Khasanov, a Reuters cameraman covering the Victory Day parade in Chechnya stadium, was killed by the explosion of a bomb placed under a pillar in the stadium@quot;s VIP section.
In February 2004, Amnesty International reported that Ruslan Soltakhanov, who had worked regularly as a driver and guide for foreign journalists in Chechnya, and most recently for the Cox Newspapers correspondent, Rebecca Santana, was arrested and held incommunicado at an unknown location ?where he is at risk of torture,? Amnesty said.
In March, Irina Petrushova, editor of the Kazakhstan opposition newspaper, was arrested in St. Petersburg. In the same month, an explosive device went off outside the apartment of Elena Tregubova, author of a critical book about the Kremlin.
On April 30, a freelance correspondent for the Turkmen service of America@quot;s Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) in Moscow, Mukhamed Berdiev, was beaten unconscious at his home. Earlier, two journalists were warned to stop working for RFE/RL, or else!
In addition to these incidents, recent steps taken by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to harass and intimidate independent journalists in retaliation for their work are very troubling. As a result, journalists say that they have become targets of abuse for reporting on government corruption and FSB attacks. In some cases of media harassment, the actions and language employed have been reminiscent of threats issued in Soviet times.
In the highly respected Freedom House assessments of the degree of freedom in communicating information to the public in each of 193 countries, Russia has fallen from the Partly Free country group to the Not Free category. This happened, Freedom House explained, because of the negative state influence over public and private media, repeated attacks against journalists, and the shut-down of the country@quot;s last independent television broadcaster. Freedom of the press declined in Russia as a result of continued legal, political and economic pressures, it was reported.
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives in 120 countries, pointed out that ?Many Russian media outlets occupy a gray zone between the state and private interests. Thus, journalism is often compromised by politics. The violence that Russian journalists have to face as part of their work is extremely damaging to the profession, and to the whole of society.?
Also in 2003, Reporters Without Borders ranked Russia 148 out of 166 countries, based on the difficulties experienced by journalists in obtaining information about Chechnya, and by the large number of journalists murdered in your country.
You have stated that your goal is to establish a ?managed democracy? in Russia. While we have concerns about what that term may mean, with your expanding role in international democracy and in coalition-building, we think that this is a perfect time to demonstrate to the world confidence in your people. We believe that one way you can help accomplish this objective is by reducing the severity of the security services@quot; measures in controlling and harassing independent media.
We urge y ou to recognize that this is an ideal time for Russia, as a member of the United Nations, to afford your citizens a broadened opportunity to enjoy the freedom of expression and the press as established in Article 19 of the U.N.@quot;s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. You can also help the situation by ending the harassment of media operations such as the Versiya newspaper and the Prima news agency.
All these moves would help build recognition for Russia as a country that respects and enhances the dignity and potential of its people.
Respectfully yours,
Larry Martz
Norman A. Schorr
Co-chairmen, Freedom of the Press Committee