19 July 2006
EXTREMISM LAW THREATENS FREE SPEECH; JOURNALISTS ARRESTED AT G-8 SUMMIT
As Russia prepared to host the G-8 summit of leading industrialised democracies from 15-17 July, its upper house of Parliament approved a bill broadening the definition of "extremism" to include media criticism of state officials, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Concerns about the bill's impact on freedom of expression have also been raised by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), ARTICLE 19, and the International Press Institute (IPI).
The bill provides for imprisonment of up to three years for journalists and the suspension or closure of their publications, notes CPJ. According to the Associated Press, the amendments to the 2002 Law on Fighting Extremist Activity broaden the definition of extremist activity to include "public slander directed toward figures fulfilling the state duties of the Russian Federation," as well as "interfering with the legal duties of organs of state authorities."
ARTICLE 19 and CPJ are concerned about the bill's vague and overly broad language, which could allow public officials to target critical reporters and put a further chill on what remains of independent media coverage. The measure, approved by Parliament's upper house on 14 July and the lower house on July 8, now goes to President Vladimir Putin for his signature.
Russia's government maintains that the new law's purpose is to fight ultra-nationalism, note IFJ and ARTICLE 19. But the organisations point out that existing laws already prohibit inciting violent extremist activity and hatred on the grounds of ethnic origin, religion, or group affiliation.
Meanwhile, a number of arrests of journalists and harassment of civil society activists marred the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg. On 9 July, two German student journalists with Radio Hertz 87.9, Eike Korfhage and Henning Wallerius, were given a ten-day prison sentence for "urinating in public" after police initially accused them of participating in an anti-G8 rally, report CPJ, IPI, and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF). The two were released on 15 July and deported. CPJ notes that the following day a Ukrainian television reporter, Maksym Butkevych, was arrested while filming police breaking up a rally. He was sentenced to three days in prison for "resisting police."
On 11 July, police seized the camera of Boris Reitschuster, a correspondent for the German magazine "Focus," and deleted his photographs of the arrests of delegates to a conference of opposition parties and civil society groups, reports CPJ. Human Rights Watch has documented many other examples of interference by authorities with "The Other Russia" conference, including various forms of harassment to prevent participants from arriving. Tactics reportedly used included summoning attendees to police departments, planting drugs, threatening them with detention, and beatings by unknown assailants.
Among Russian journalists' other concerns are the various clauses in the Criminal Code that have been used against them. In June, the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations launched an online petition to remove these "undemocratic" clauses. To sign the statement, visit: http://www.cjes.ru/actions/action.php?p_id=2&l=en
Visit these links:
- ARTICLE 19: http://www.article19.org/pdfs/press/russia-extremism-law.pdf
- WAN: http://www.wan-press.org/article11428.html
- IPI: http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/statements_detail.html?ctxid=CH0055&docid=CMS1153130501500
- IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=4050&Language=EN
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/news/2006/europe/russia14july06na.html
- Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/13/russia13731.htm
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=17949
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