A Sochi court refused to close an opposition newspaper. The decision is not final

In Sochi, the court dismissed the claim against the regional Roskomnadzor, which was trying to close down the newspaper Mestnaya. The newspaper's management considers what is happening as a political order. Such a story in the Krasnodar Territory is not the first.

“Within three months from the date of the first publication, the publication did not provide information that its Charter was adopted and approved. This is a violation of the Mass Media Law, and there is no politics here, ”Roskomnadzor for the Krasnodar Territory explained to Novaya Gazeta. The agency asked the court to invalidate the newspaper's registration certificate.

“We sent a copy of the Charter to Roskomnadzor three years ago. This lawsuit is a political order. Before that, there were threats, bribery attempts, the editor-in-chief was brutally beaten,” said Oleg Rubezhansky, director of the Mestnaya newspaper.

The publication exists for three years and is published in Sochi with a circulation of 50,000 copies. Moreover, a video supplement to the newspaper is published on CDs. Printed and video materials contain harsh criticism of the Sochi mayor Pakhomov and United Russia. The newspaper pays much attention to the Olympic settlers and the illiterate building of the city.

According to Oleg Rubezhansky, director of the newspaper, he did not receive court summonses, and learned about the lawsuit unofficially, from acquaintances. Today, a group of newspaper readers came to the building of the Central District Court of Sochi, expressing their support for the publication. To everyone's joy, Judge Sergei Kachur denied Roskomnadzor's claim.

A similar story a few years earlier happened with the opposition television program Sovetskaya Kuban. In 2004, after the forceful change of the Krasnodar government (police and prosecutors seized the mayor's office), the TV program was deprived of television air. When the editorial office began to distribute the program on the Internet, the regional Roskomnadzor filed a lawsuit: allegedly, it was impossible to distribute the TV program off the air. The Soviet District Court dismissed the claim, but the department had a new claim: "Sovetskaya Kuban" is registered in the Krasnodar Territory, but goes to the whole world, since the Internet is a worldwide network. But the court also considered this argument insufficient to close down the opposition media.

As for the lawsuit against the newspaper Mestnaya, the department of legal work of the regional Roskomnadzor clarified that most likely today's judicial denial of the lawsuit will be appealed.