Udmurt authorities against the Den agency

In Izhevsk, the authorities are trying in every possible way to stop the activities of the Den news agency, which represents the opposition movement in Udmurtia.

On April 7, 2005, the editorial office of The Day received a letter from the management of the network of street kiosks Informpechat, in which the newspaper was denied further distribution of its products through the network of kiosks Informpechat. The pretext is "economic inexpediency". According to the information agency itself, practically the entire print run of The Day, distributed through Informpechat, was sold out.

Since January, because of the refusal of the leadership of the republican Izhevsk printing plant to print Den, this newspaper is now being printed in Perm. Yury Pitkevich, chairman of the government of Udmurtia, personally telephones advertisers, forbidding them to advertise in The Day. On the night of April 3, 2005, the glasses in the editorial windows were broken with stones.

On the same April 3, in order to block coverage of the 5,000-strong protest rally on the news feed of The Day's website, a communication cable was cut in the entrance of the editorial building.

By the way, during the rally, law enforcement agencies detained a car with a delegation of the Sarapul branch of the movement "For a Decent Life!" - under the pretext that the car was allegedly stolen. After the people were held for two hours, they were released with apologies.

Sources

• Attacks on opposition Udmurt newspaper The Day // Institute "Collective Action". 2005. April 8.
• Izhevsk list of provocations against protesters // Perm neighbors. 2005. April 5.
• Bronshtein B. Oppositional newspaper persecuted in Udmutria // New Newspaper. 2005. April 8.