"Moskovsky Komsomolets in Nizhny Novgorod" called for civil liability for anti-Chechen publication

On October 1, 2004, the Council for Information Disputes in the Nizhny Novgorod region at the Nizhny Novgorod Center for the Protection of Press Rights considered the statement of the executive director of the Center for Interethnic Interaction "Dialogue" Ekaterina Borisova on the fact of the publication in the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets in Nizhny Novgorod" of the editorial article "Chechen lovers were electronically intimidated " . According to the applicant, the publication was aimed at inciting ethnic hatred, especially against the Chechens.

Having considered the statement of E. Borisova and the conclusions of the experts, the Board came to the conclusion that to classify the controversial publication in accordance with Art. 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is impossible. However, at the same time, the Council considered that the editorial office of the newspaper "MK in Nizhny Novgorod" represented by the editor-in-chief Kochetkov V.V. (since the article does not contain a signature and is editorial) grossly violated the requirements of a number of articles of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the Mass Media", "since the authors openly express their commitment to extreme views and extreme political measures in relation to a certain ethnic group of the population of Russia, most not only do not counteract extremism, but act as its adherents .

In addition, in the opinion of the Council, the editorial office at the same time violated paragraph 5 (part 1) of the Code of Professional Ethics of a Russian Journalist, which states that:: A journalist is fully aware of the danger of restriction, persecution and violence that may be provoked by his activities. Performing his professional duties, he counteracts extremism and restriction of civil rights on any grounds, including gender, race, language, religion, political or other views, as well as social and national origin;

The editors of the newspaper are recommended to publish the Council's decision in the next issue.

October 27, 2004 "Moskovsky Komsomolets in Nizhny Novgorod" published the Council's decision.

Information of the Center for Interethnic Interaction "Dialogue"