Kommersant, Russia
Jan 7 2005

Reporters Without Borders are Dissatisfied with Freedom of Speech in
Russia

January 7, Reporters Without Borders have issued a worldwide press
freedom index, in which they express concerns about the situation in
Russia and the entire world, BBC reports.

Reporters Without Borders rank Russia among the worst countries
(121st out of 139), where `press freedom is a dead letter and
independent newspapers do not exist.’ The organization notes that in
Russia `the only voice heard is of media tightly controlled or
monitored by the government. The very few independent journalists are
constantly harassed, imprisoned or forced into exile by the
authorities. The foreign media is banned or allowed in very small
doses, always closely monitored.’

The independent organization believes it is still difficult to work
as a journalist in Russia and several have been murdered or
imprisoned. It gives the example of Grigory Pasko, `jailed since
December 2001 in the Vladivostok region of Russia, was given a
four-year sentence for publishing pictures of the Russian Navy
pouring liquid radioactive waste into the Sea of Japan.’

However, Russia is not the worst among other CIS members. In Belarus
(124th), the referendum on President Lukashenko’s third term was
preceded by closing a number of independent editions. Moreover, the
investigation of murdered journalist Dmitry Zavadsky’s case was
stopped despite or due to the signs of high-ranking officials being
involved in it.

Uzbekistan (120th) is also conducting a purposive policy to suppress
independent press. A journalist was imprisoned for a far-fetched
accusation of homosexuality.

An attack on freedom of press is taking place in Azerbaijan (101st),
especially after October 2003 presidential election. Journalists have
no adequate working conditions in the country, an opposition
journalist was imprisoned for five years. No freedom of the press can
be observed in Turkmenistan (136th).

Despite the violations during the presidential election, the
situation in Ukraine (112th) is considered better than in Russia.

According to the report, the worst situation has developed in eastern
Asia, North Korea, Burma, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Bangladesh and Laos
– these countries suffer the most from censorship and pressure of
authorities. A little better is the situation in the Middle East,
however, Syria and Saudi Arabia simply do not presuppose the
existence of independent mass-media. Self-censorship is widely-spread
in the region.

On the whole, as many as 53 journalists were killed in 2004, which is
highest since 1995. At least 907 journalists were arrested, over
1,000 were threatened or assaulted. In 2004, the organization
registered 622 cases of censorship. As of January 1, 2005, 107
journalists and 70 authors of nonconformist materials were in jail.

The most dangerous country, as last year, was Iraq. Over the past 12
months, 31 mass media workers were killed in the country. Most
frequently, journalists fell victims of terror attacks or guerrilla’s
military activities, but the death of four journalists is the
responsibility of the Command of U.S. Armed Forces: On March 18 in
Baghdad, U.S. soldiers shot mistakenly a camera team of Al-Arabiya
TV-channel. A month later, the same lot fell upon journalists of
Al-Iraqiya TV channel.

In October last year, the organization published a similar rating.
Russia was 140th out of 167 countries on the list. Worst-ranked CIS
countries were Turkmenia (164th), Belarus (144th), Uzbekistan
(142nd), Ukraine (139th), Azerbaijan (136th), Kazakhstan (131st),
Kyrghizia (107th), Tajikistan (95th), Georgia (94th), Armenia (83rd),
Moldova (78th).