Editor-in-chief of Vecherny Murmansk accuses mayor Subbotin of censorship and pressure upon mass-media

Apr 12, 2010

In the congress hotel jf the Meridian hotel in Murmansk there has been heled a special press conference with the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Vecherny Murmansk Natalia Chervjakova. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper of which founder is the Murmansk city administration, has accused mayor Sergey Subbotin of pressure upon mass-media and censorship.

On April, 6th in the newspaper Vecherny Murmansk there was to appear article «All to court?» about overdue social compensentory peyment for heating in 2009 done by administration of Murmansk. However, according to Chervjakova, on the eve of the newspaper 's release Sergey Subbotin invited her for a personal talk and demanded to withdraw the article from the planned issue accompanying the requirement with threats. Under the pressure of the city governor the editor-in-chief withdrew the article from publishing.

But having regained consciousness she addressed in written form to the Department of Internal Affairs of Murmansk area and to the Office of Public Prosecutor, she also applied to governor Dmitry Dmitrienko and to the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation with the request to protect the journalists of the newspaper from censorship and attempts on press freedom.

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Translated by Tatiana Polkova