RUSSIA, Moscow. On 17 January, Alexander Podrabinek, Editor-in-Chief of PRIMA-News Agency, and Nikolai Khramov, Editor-in-Chief of on-line publication Radicaly.ru, wrote to Russia's Prosecutor General, Vladimir Ustinov, in connection with the continuing trial over Stanislav Dmitriyevsky in Nizhny Novgorod. Dear Prosecutor General,
On 18 January, in Nizhny Novgorod, trial will continue over Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, who is charged under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of Russian Federation.
The criminal proceedings were instigated last January after Pravo-Zashchita newspaper had published addresses by Aslan Maskhadov and Akhmed Zakayev calling for peaceful resolution of Russian-Chechen conflict. Stanislav Dmitriyevsky is this newspaper's Editor-in-Chief.
We believe that Dmitriyevsky's prosecution is an attempt to clamp down on freedom of press in Russia and we voice our solidarity with the accused. The actions of Prosecutor's Office are unconstitutional and contravene human rights conventions and other international standards safeguarding freedom of speech.
To demonstrate our solidarity with Stanislav Dmitriyevsky and our commitment to freedom of speech in Russia, on 17 January we published the materials had that prompted criminal proceedings against Stanislav Dmitriyevsky on our websites. If the law has not been applied discriminately against Dmitriyevsky and today he is convicted for publishing these materials, Prosecutor's Office must also bring against us similar charges.
We state that we are prepared to stand up for freedom of speech in a criminal court as did Dmitriyevsky.
In the meantime, while his verdict is yet to be announced, we urge you to drop the charges brought against Stanislav Dmitriyevsky and not to bring back to Russia the shameful years of persecution against dissent and uncensored literature.
Alexander Podrabinek, Editor-in-Chief, PRIMA-News Agency (www.prima-news.ru).
Nikolai Khramov Editor-in-Chief, Radikaly.ru (www.radikaly.ru).
Moscow, 17 January 2006.