"Caricature" scandal in Volgograd

On February 9, the Volgograd newspaper Gorodskiye Vesti published an article "Racists have no place in power." The material was accompanied by an illustration depicting representatives of the main world religions. The local branch of the United Russia party considered that this illustration offended the feelings of believers, and appealed to the regional prosecutor's office with a demand to conduct an examination of the drawing and punish those responsible. In addition, "United Russia" called for a boycott of the newspaper. However, the editors of Gorodskiye Vesti held consultations with representatives of the Orthodox, Catholic, Muslim and Jewish communities of the Volgograd region, and it turned out that the believers themselves do not see anything offensive in this publication.

As part of the prosecutor's investigation into the publication of the cartoon, a religious study has been scheduled to answer the question of how offensive this cartoon is to believers.

On February 16, there was a message that the city authorities had decided to close the newspaper, but soon the vice-mayor of Volgograd, Konstantin Kalachev, denied this information. "There are no decisions to close the newspaper at the moment. I do not exclude the possibility that this issue is being discussed, but the decision has not yet been made," he told an Interfax correspondent .

Meanwhile, the Federal Service for Supervision of Compliance with Legislation in the Sphere of Mass Communications and the Protection of Cultural Heritage (Rosohrankultura) made a statement regarding the situation. The leadership of this department emphasized that although the drawing published in the Volgograd newspaper has nothing to do with the cartoons that caused the international scandal , it can nevertheless be perceived by believers as an insult to their feelings.

"We support the position of representatives of religious denominations, who refrained from commenting on this issue, so as not to whip up passions and relieve tension amid the ongoing international scandal," said Boris Boyarskov, head of Rosokhrankultura. "As you know, the regional prosecutor's office is conducting an investigation into this publication. turn, Rosokhrankultura, guided by the requirements of the Law "On Mass Media" and the Federal Law "On Counteracting Extremist Activity" warned the editorial office of the newspaper "City News" about the inadmissibility of humiliating the feelings of believers. We will continue to suppress any attempts to publish materials in the media aimed at inciting inter-religious and social hatred, within the framework of the current legislation."

But in the Union of Journalists of Russia, such a reaction of state structures and officials was considered unacceptable. "These statements and actions violate two fundamental constitutional principles: freedom of the press and the secular nature of our state," the Union of Journalists said in a statement, also circulated to the media on February 16. (Earlier, representatives of Russian human rights organizations spoke in approximately the same vein.)

The authors of the document demanded to comply with the law and warned "against attempts to revise it, restoring elements of censorship." "The origins of the so-called 'caricature war' have nothing to do with the real feelings of believers and lie exclusively in the sphere of politics. We regret that Russia turned out to be the only European country where the state went on about provocateurs," the statement said.

On the same day, Portal-Credo.ru , citing the National News Agency, reported that, at the initiative of the Volgograd branch of United Russia, eight political parties in the region (excluding the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party, the SPS and Yabloko) signed an agreement on combating nationalism, xenophobia and religious strife.

Sources

• In Volgograd, "United Russia" found new participants in the "cartoon scandal" // IA REGNUM. 2006. February 10.
• "United Russia" called for a boycott of the Volgograd newspaper because of the cartoon // News of Volgograd.ru. 2006. February 13.
• In connection with the publication of cartoons on a religious theme in a Volgograd newspaper, a religious study will be conducted // Interfax-religion. 2006. February 15.
• Russian human rights activists believe that there should not be a monopoly on judgments in the religious sphere // There.
• Volgograd newspaper closed "due to negative reaction" to the publication // IA REGNUM. 2006. February 16.
• The vice-mayor of Volgograd denied the information about the closure of a local newspaper that published a drawing on a religious theme // Interfax-religion. 2006. February 16.
• Rosokhrankultura urges not to aggravate interfaith relations // Official website of the Federal Service for Supervision of Compliance with Legislation in the Sphere of Mass Communications and Protection of Cultural Heritage. 2006. February 16.
• The Union of Journalists of Russia condemned the attacks on the Volgograd newspaper, which published a cartoon on a religious theme // Interfax-religion. 2006. February 16.
• Political parties and public associations signed an agreement on religious tolerance in Volgograd // Portal-Credo.ru. 2006. February 16.