The Moscow police on Wednesday made an abortive attempt to search the premises of the Moscow-based independent weekly The New Times/Novoye Vremya in execution of a court order that is the subject of an appeal by the weekly, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
Moscow’s Tverskoi district court issued the search order on April 5 in response to a libel action by the elite Omon police and the General Directorate for Internal Affairs (GUVD) under article 129 of the criminal code over a February 1 story in The New Times headlined “Omon Slaves” about alleged corrupt practices within the elite unit.
RSF stressed its complete support for the magazine and its staff, who have the courage to do proper investigative reporting into matters of general interest, an activity that is at the core of real journalism. “We share the view of The New Times editor Yevgenia Albats that the protection of journalists’ sources is an essential element of press freedom and that investigative journalism cannot exist without it,” it said.
No search can legally be carried out in response to the court order until the weekly’s appeal has been heard, and The New Times deputy editor Ilya Barabanov told Paris-based RSF that the search order was illegal under articles 41 and 49 of the media law.
Based on information provided by unidentified sources with Omon, The New Times story accused the elite unit of selling its protection services to businessmen and even criminal organisations. It drew an immediate denial from Omon followed by the libel action.
