Russia
Reporter charged with insulting official onlinePosted Feb 25 2007
Dmitry Tashlykov, a reporter for the central Russian Kovrov-based weekly Vladimirsky Krai, was charged with defaming Vladimir regional Governor Nikolai Vinogradov in an Internet chat room in January 2006. The next session of his trial, which first began on Jan. 30, is scheduled for Feb. 28. Tashlykov is charged with Public Insult and Insulting a Public Official. Both charges carry up to one year of corrective labor. Tashlykov denies the charges and is reported as saying, “Press freedom is the ability to express one's point of view correctly and respectfully in the interests of currents affairs and society,” by the television channel NTV. The Moscow-based state daily Rossiskaya Gazeta reported that five other chat room participants were interrogated and some of their computers were confiscated, but only Tashlykov was charged.
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