A warning was issued to the Dagestan newspaper "Chernovik"

On July 8, 2008, the prosecutor of the Republic of Dagestan, Igor Tkachev, issued a warning to the editor-in-chief of the socio-political weekly "Chernovik" about the inadmissibility of extremist activity. The reason was the article "Terrorists number one", published in the newspaper on July 4, 2008.

The text of the warning raises very serious doubts about its legitimacy (on the contrary, it is worth noting the very fact that a newspaper published a warning; often the media do not even publish warnings addressed to them in full).

Firstly, do not correspond to reality about alleged prohibitions on reading the Russian translation of the Koran" "the provisions of the Koran taken out of the semantic context, containing calls: to chop off the heads of unbelievers; as well as statements that But the prosecutor's office itself takes this quote out of context: it is cited in the article as an illustration of what, according to the author, the Caucasian separatists are guided by, and in no way looks like an appeal. The statement about the prohibitions on reading the Russian translation of the Koran, even if it does not correspond to reality, is not extremist.

Secondly, "The publication of extremist statements of persons wanted for committing crimes of a terrorist nature, the assertion that the youth of the entire North Caucasus is embarking on the path of armed resistance to the authorities in force in Russia, testifies to the position of the editorial board, which justifies persons who have chosen the commission of crimes as the meaning of life. grave and especially grave crimes, including murders of law enforcement officers, military personnel and civilians, discredits the authorities of the Republic of Dagestan and the Russian Federation . Apparently, we are talking about the quote given at the end of the text, belonging to Rappani Khalilov, in which we did not find signs of extremism. Even his statement that the authorities of Dagestan care only about personal well-being and are ready for anything for it, including "murder of their own people" , cannot be considered extremist under the law, since what he accuses the authorities of (even if unfairly) does not fall under under the definition of extremism. The assertion that Caucasian youth is embarking on the path of armed resistance is only a statement of fact, not an excuse. The authors of the article give several possible reasons for this fact, including the illegal actions of law enforcement officers against civilians, but do not justify it. Finally, discrediting the authorities is not a crime at all, just like quoting extremists and terrorists in itself.

Thirdly, the prosecutor's office saw in the article "statements directly insulting the honor and dignity of statesmen and heads of law enforcement agencies ," which has nothing to do with anti-extremist legislation at all.

And finally, fourthly, "The circulation in the newspaper of the statements of the destroyed leader of the bandit formation Rappani Khalilov, giving the criminal community operating in the territory of the Republic of Dagestan the status of a well-organized political force glorifies the perpetrators of crimes of a terrorist nature, and is aimed at forming in the minds of readers a conclusion about the need for violent changes in the constitutional order of Russia" . We wrote about the statement of Ripanni Khalilov above, and the assertion that the terrorist underground is an organized political force is not a direct call for a violent change in the foundations of the constitutional order, and therefore does not fall under the definition of extremism.

Of course, citing relatively long quotes from militant leaders without proper commentary is a controversial practice from the point of view of journalistic ethics. And it was probably in this connection that the prosecutor could have warned the editorial office against possible violations of the law in the future, if it seemed to him that the tone of the article betrayed sympathy for the militants. Moreover, a warning, unlike a warning, does not entail further sanctions against the editorial board. Then it would be about the preventive work of the prosecutor's office.

But, unfortunately, the prosecutor did not limit himself to just this claim, and the pressure on the editorial office was not limited to this warning.

On July 18, the editor-in-chief of the Chernovik newspaper, Nadira Isayeva, appealed against the warning in court.

In 2007, the newspaper received a similar warning from Rossvyazokhrankultura for publishing materials in the heading "[board of ob]" (apparently, it means "Announcement Board" - ed.) in N 19 (166) dated 11.05.2007. Unfortunately, we do not know the details, and on the website of the newspaper in the archive of the issues we were unable to find material with that title.

The report of the Prosecutor General's Office dated August 6 also mentions: "The Department of Rossvyazokhrankultura for the Republic of Dagestan has sent a warning to the editorial office of the Chernovik newspaper about the inadmissibility of abusing the freedom of the mass media." Apparently, this Department issued a warning on the same material, on which the prosecutor's office issued a warning, although, perhaps, on a wider range of materials.

Sources

• Prosecutor's Office of the Republic issued a warning to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Chernovik" about the inadmissibility of violating the law // Official website of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Dagestan. 2008. 9 July.
• Khutsnyev V., Magomedov G. Terrorists number one // "Draft". 2008. July 4th.
• The editorial office of the newspaper "Chernovik" will protest the warning of the prosecutor's office of Dagestan // "Caucasian knot". 2008. July 8.
• Warning of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Dagestan about the inadmissibility of violating the law // Website of the newspaper "Chernovik". July 2008
• Appeal Warnings of the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Dagestan // Website of the newspaper "Chernovik". July 2008
• Based on the materials of the inspection conducted by the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Dagestan, a criminal case was initiated against the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Chernovik" // Website of the Prosecutor General's Office. 2008. 6 August.