A court in Makhachkala, the capital of the southern republic of Dagestan, has ended a three-year legal battle by acquitting the weekly Chernovik on charges of extremism, inciting hatred and defaming the security forces, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported.
The charges were brought against editor Nadira Isayeva and four of her journalists – Biakay Magomedov, Artur Mamayev, Magomed Magomedov and Timur Mustafayev – in 2008 over a series of articles critical of the regional police and the Federal Security Service (FSB).
One of the articles that prompted the prosecution, headlined “Terrorist No. 1,” quoted Rappan Khalilov, the leader of a rebel group fighting in Dagestan. Illegal searches were carried out at the newspaper’s headquarters and at the homes of the journalists.
The prosecution case was largely based on a “psychological and linguistic evaluation” which, after being challenged by the defence, was sent to the Federal Centre for Forensic Examination (FTsCE) in Moscow for arbitration. The FTsCE’s evaluation, which the court received on May 4, concluded that the article in question did not constitute grounds for a prosecution. The prosecution responded by requesting yet another expert evaluation, but the request was denied.
“The FTsCE report deprived the prosecution of any evidence of a crime,” Biakay Magomedov told RSF after the final hearing. “I think the jury had no choice but to acquit us.” Magomedov nonetheless added that he did not rule out the possibility of a prosecution appeal against the acquittal.
Chernovik has been hounded in the courts. The Federal Agency for Supervising Mass Communications (Roskomnadzor) and the Dagestan prosecutor’s office brought a civil complaint against the newspaper, requesting its closure. It was finally rejected by Dagestan’s supreme court in September 2010.
The newspaper, which dares to cover special operations by the security forces and the frequent disappearances in Dagestan, is subject to other forms of harassment as well. Three of its journalists were on a list of “people to be killed” that was circulated anonymously on the streets of Makhachkala in 2009.
“The Dagestan security forces and prosecutor’s office pulled out all the stops in their attempt to silence this publication, Dagestan’s leading independent newspaper,” RSF said. “But the charges were so absurd that their prosecution collapsed.”
“Journalists risk their lives to provide the public with news and information in Dagestan, where attacks, kidnappings and murders are common,” RSF said. “Members of the security forces are often accused of corruption and of trying to destabilize the republic.
“Against this backdrop, Chernovik’s acquittal is a ray of hope, The courts must continue to demonstrate their independence, above all by making a serious efforts to combat impunity for those who physically attack or murder journalists.”
"We welcome today's acquittal by the Makhachkala court and congratulate our colleagues with the weekly Chernovik on this important, hard-earned victory," Nina Ognianova, Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator with New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said. "This is a rare respite for the media in a region where journalists are often subject to physical violence, even murder in retaliation for their work."
Speaking to CPJ after the court hearing, Isayeva said she saw the case against her and her colleagues as "a test for the institution of press freedom" in Dagestan. Chernovik's articles had been subjected to numerous government expert analyses on linguistic and psychological over the past three years, in an attempt to determine whether they contained "calls to extremism."
