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Call for release of two young German journalists arrested over anti-G8 protests
Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage at police violence today in Moscow against a German journalist who was covering protests against this weekend’s G8 summit St. Petersburg, and the detention of two other German journalists in St. Petersburg since the night of 9 July.
Russia13 July 2006
Call for release of two young German journalists arrested over anti-G8 protests
Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage at police violence today in Moscow against a German journalist who was covering protests against this weekend’s G8 summit St. Petersburg, and the detention of two other German journalists in St. Petersburg since the night of 9 July.
Boris Reitschuster, the correspondent of the German magazine Focus, was attacked by police today as he was taking photos of anti-G8 protesters who were themselves the victim of police violence. Reitschuster’s mobile phone was briefly confiscated by the police during the incident.
Eike Korfhage and Henning Wallerius, two students working as journalists for Hertz 97,8, a university radio station, were arrested at their home on the night of 9 July by the St. Petersburg police, who accused them of participating in an anti-G8 protest and taking photos. They were subsequently sentenced to 10 days in detention for “urinating in public,” a charge they deny. German embassy representatives have been able to visit them and said their prison conditions are acceptable.
“Violence against journalists who have gone to Russia to cover the G8 summit is unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We are astounded by the 10-day prison sentence passed on two German students working for a university radio station. We condemn these acts of repression and call on the Russian authorities to free them at once.”
This heavy-handed police behaviour did not bode well for the G8 summit, the organisation warned.
“We could like to remind the foreign leaders taking part in the summit that press freedom is in steady retreat in Russia,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Many broadcast media and newspapers have been placed under Kremlin control since Vladimir Putin took over as president. The press is gagged and the independent media are just a shadow of what they were and virtually non-existent in some regions. Self-censorship is widely practised and the authorities are now cracking down on the Internet.”
Russia is also unable to ensure the safety of journalists, Reporters Without Borders said. Thirteen have been killed since 2000 without those responsible for their deaths ever being identified. The murder of Paul Klebnikov, the editor of the Russian edition of the US magazine Forbes, on 9 July 2004 in Moscow remains unpunished. The disappearance of Agence France-Presse correspondent Ali Astamirov following his kidnapping on 4 July 2003 in Ingushetia has never been solved. Russia’s leaders, above all Putin himself, have been shown any sign of taking a strong interest in these cases.
“Instead of adopting firm measures to protect journalists and promote the independence of the press, the Russian parliament is now considering a very disturbing bill, one that refers to the defamation of a government representative in the media or on the Internet as ‘extremist’,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“The bill is clearly aimed at preventing any criticism of official decisions taken in the course of the fight against terrorism,” the organisation added.
For more information:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article...
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Update Repression - Summary of the LINK Press Release No. 9
Author
* assa
Date Created
* 14 Jul 2006
* More details...
Date Edited
* 14 Jul 2006 07:14:58 PM
License
public domainThis work is in the public domain.
Summary of the LINK Press Release No. 9
LINK (the Libertarian Information and News Collective of the Network against G8
The repression against activists goes on. It’s less than a day until the beginning of the summit. The number of violations against civil and human rights reaches more than hundred.
Since the press release No.6 the situation got worse. The results of the trials, we have reported earlier, speak for themselves. A few Russian citizens, two Germans and one Swiss have been convicted on the ground of ridiculous accusations with 10 to 15 days of imprisonment.
More people, among them anarchists from St. Petersburg, participants of the alternative Energy Forum and Members of the Legal Team are waiting at this moment for their trials which have been postponed again and again. Some activists have been threatened with the possibility of a crime investigation on the ground of the new “anti-extremists” laws. Apart from that a lot of activists are observed by police and FSB very open.
Meanwhile the number of violations against the civic rights is rising. The Legal Team reports a lot of incidents. But the real number is much higher. Until today they received hundreds of complaints about the restriction of free movement:
- threats and warnings, not to travel to St. Petersburg (26)
- forceful return of tickets (8)
- return tickets have been bought under pressure (4)
- people have been taken out of trains (86).
In 19 cases the right to gather in public space was restricted, 29 people have been detained by police on train stations in St.Petersburg on arrival, 8 were arrested without any reasons. The police entered 9 appartments without official juridical order. And nine passports were confiscated.
Hundreds of activists have the papers been checked on the streets of St.Petersburg.
One example is the odyssey of the activist Alexander Lashmankin from Samara. His house has been searched and all his attempts to travel to St.Petersburg were met with detainment and arrest on his way by train, suburb train and hitchhiking. Finally he was told by the police and the FSB that he won’t be able to reach Piter until the end of the summit. Now he is going home to Samara. Tomorrow he will have a press conference at 11:00 in Samara.
Another example is the threatening of relatives of activists: The mother of the journalist Vlad Tupikin from Moscow. She was met by to policemen on the streets who entered her appartment. They put pressure on the old lady to tell them about her son’s plans in Piter. After she refused to cooperate with them, she was warned about the consequences of her behaviour and future visits.
The third case is Vasilii Starostin, his son Jegor and another comrade from the Siberian Workers Union in Omsk, Elena Girde, who have been detained in Ekaterinburg, while their were traveling to St.Petersburg. After a long and heavy interrogation, where they have been threatened with a courts case on being involved in “extremist’s” activities, the police and FSB adviced them to travel back to Omsk.
We hope to present more precise statistics of the Legal Team in the next days.
Our contact in Russian and English: 8 (916) 992 25 50
spb8media (at) riseup.net
LINK is a member of the AntiG8-Network founded by Anarchists, Radical Ecologists and anti-authoritarian leftist activists in Russia and Eastern Europe. LINK doesn’t speak in the name of the whole network but publishes it’s own press releases and news from other members.
Related
* http://spb8.net
* http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15145/index.php
Author
* assa
Date Created
* 14 Jul 2006
* More details...
Date Edited
* 14 Jul 2006 07:14:58 PM
License
public domainThis work is in the public domain.
Summary of the LINK Press Release No. 9
LINK (the Libertarian Information and News Collective of the Network against G8
The repression against activists goes on. It’s less than a day until the beginning of the summit. The number of violations against civil and human rights reaches more than hundred.
Since the press release No.6 the situation got worse. The results of the trials, we have reported earlier, speak for themselves. A few Russian citizens, two Germans and one Swiss have been convicted on the ground of ridiculous accusations with 10 to 15 days of imprisonment.
More people, among them anarchists from St. Petersburg, participants of the alternative Energy Forum and Members of the Legal Team are waiting at this moment for their trials which have been postponed again and again. Some activists have been threatened with the possibility of a crime investigation on the ground of the new “anti-extremists” laws. Apart from that a lot of activists are observed by police and FSB very open.
Meanwhile the number of violations against the civic rights is rising. The Legal Team reports a lot of incidents. But the real number is much higher. Until today they received hundreds of complaints about the restriction of free movement:
- threats and warnings, not to travel to St. Petersburg (26)
- forceful return of tickets (8)
- return tickets have been bought under pressure (4)
- people have been taken out of trains (86).
In 19 cases the right to gather in public space was restricted, 29 people have been detained by police on train stations in St.Petersburg on arrival, 8 were arrested without any reasons. The police entered 9 appartments without official juridical order. And nine passports were confiscated.
Hundreds of activists have the papers been checked on the streets of St.Petersburg.
One example is the odyssey of the activist Alexander Lashmankin from Samara. His house has been searched and all his attempts to travel to St.Petersburg were met with detainment and arrest on his way by train, suburb train and hitchhiking. Finally he was told by the police and the FSB that he won’t be able to reach Piter until the end of the summit. Now he is going home to Samara. Tomorrow he will have a press conference at 11:00 in Samara.
Another example is the threatening of relatives of activists: The mother of the journalist Vlad Tupikin from Moscow. She was met by to policemen on the streets who entered her appartment. They put pressure on the old lady to tell them about her son’s plans in Piter. After she refused to cooperate with them, she was warned about the consequences of her behaviour and future visits.
The third case is Vasilii Starostin, his son Jegor and another comrade from the Siberian Workers Union in Omsk, Elena Girde, who have been detained in Ekaterinburg, while their were traveling to St.Petersburg. After a long and heavy interrogation, where they have been threatened with a courts case on being involved in “extremist’s” activities, the police and FSB adviced them to travel back to Omsk.
We hope to present more precise statistics of the Legal Team in the next days.
Our contact in Russian and English: 8 (916) 992 25 50
spb8media (at) riseup.net
LINK is a member of the AntiG8-Network founded by Anarchists, Radical Ecologists and anti-authoritarian leftist activists in Russia and Eastern Europe. LINK doesn’t speak in the name of the whole network but publishes it’s own press releases and news from other members.
Related
* http://spb8.net
* http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/15145/index.php
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