MOSCOW: A media rights watchdog sharply criticized Russian authorities for prosecuting a journalist who wrote an article allegedly mocking President Vladimir Putin.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement released late Thursday that it was "deeply concerned" about the trial of Vladimir Rakhmankov, the editor of the online publication Kursiv in the city of Ivanovo northeast of Moscow. "We call on the authorities to halt the prosecution of Vladimir Rakhmankov immediately," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in the statement.
Rakhmankov went on trial in Ivanovo on Thursday on charges of insulting the president in his article headlined "Putin as Russia's phallic symbol."
The piece released in May poked fun at Putin's state-of-the-nation address, in which the president called for measures to boost the country's birth rate, which is dwindling. The publication suggested that animals at a local zoo eagerly heeded Putin's call, Russian media reported.
Local prosecutors launched an investigation in May on their own initiative without the Kremlin making any public statements or moves on the case.
If convicted of "insulting a public official" Rakhmankov faces up to 12 months of corrective labor or a fine.
"It is outrageous that local prosecutors should bring the full force of the criminal law to bear on a journalist for writing a commentary on the public policy of an elected politician," Simon said. "Prosecutors should never resort to the criminal law to shield public figures from the press. Satire is an essential and vital element of democratic discourse."
Since taking the helm more than six years ago, Putin has presided over what critics said was a steady rollback in press freedoms won since the Soviet collapse. Top independent television stations have been shut down and print media also have experienced growing official pressure.
