Anti-corruption newspaper circulation seized

Investigative journalist Pavel Shabanov published the first issue of the anti-corruption newspaper “Russian North - Belorizets”. The circulation is minimal, only 999 copies. Considering that the population of the Vologda region is 1 million 269 thousand, such a circulation is unlikely to somehow stir up public opinion. Why such a violent reaction from the local Vologda authorities?

The newspaper was published, but it did not reach the reader. Immediately at the exit from the printing house, the car transporting the circulation was detained, the newspaper's copies were seized, and along with the circulation, the police detained the driver and Pavel Shabanov.

The head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Vologda Region , Yuri Shuvalov, commented on the situation as follows: “On April 18, at about 11 o’clock, the Ministry of Internal Affairs received information about the possible distribution of printed publications that contain information discrediting the honor and dignity of citizens. Police officers seized about 1,000 copies of these publications. Now all of them have been sent for linguistic research to the forensic center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Vologda Region. Based on the results of this study, a procedural decision will be made.”

What kind of poor, vulnerable citizens did Pavel Shabanov defame in his newspaper, which has not yet reached the reader, and which, logically, no one has seen except the author and the printing house workers?

As it turned out, the reason for such an urgent “police operation” was a certain report ( published in Pavel Shabanov’s LiveJournal ):

Acting boss

Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Vologda

Police Colonel

S.N. Fedorov

REPORT

I report to you that from a telephone conversation with the head of the information and public relations department of the Vologda City Administration, I.L. Benke. On April 18 at 08.30 o'clock I learned that on April 18, 2012 at approximately 10.00 o'clock in the area of ​​the street. Elevatornaya of the city of Vologda, printed materials in the amount of 1 thousand copies will be exported by car, discrediting the honor and dignity of the Head of the city of Vologda.

04/18/2012

Head of the LLC Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Vologda

Police Major K.A. Lebedev

Wow! It would seem that this story should have looked something like this: a newspaper was published, the head of the city read it, was offended by the claims and sued the author in order to protect his honor, dignity and everything else. (In our country, if someone is dissatisfied with the actions of officials, they are told: go to court. The officials themselves are in no hurry to go to court, they have a telephone for this, obedient police and a lot of other tools for fighting citizens).

Speaking of the police. As it turns out, you can count the number of police officers willing to participate in such events on one hand. Not many people want to tarnish their reputation, because as soon as politically motivated cases arise, the names of the police appear in them are the same. (K.D. Lebedev, in particular, is one of the active participants in the criminal prosecution of the opposition ZSO deputy Evgeniy Dozhirov ).

In some comments that followed the event, along with the name of the head of Vologda, Governor Kuvshinnikov was mentioned, who was allegedly also defamed in the newspaper and supposedly he also had a hand in this story. It is difficult to agree with such statements, since Kuvshinnikov was not noticed indulging in such nonsense. In addition, in Cherepovets, where he was mayor for several years, the opposition newspaper “Cherepovets Truth” was and is being published quite calmly. Moreover, it is known that the governor carefully reads the opposition press, apparently draws his own conclusions, maybe disagrees with something, but so...