The editors of the Dagestan newspaper “Chernovik” spoke about pressure from the authorities

The editors of the Dagestan newspaper Chernovik published a statement about pressure from the authorities, which creates obstacles to the distribution of the publication. The text is published on the publication's website.

Journalists said that in early March, due to the influence of the administration of the head of the republic Sergei Melikov, the Lotos printing house stopped cooperating with the newspaper. The publication appealed to the arbitration court, but there they were told that they could not “force the printing house to fulfill the terms of the agreement concluded between us,” and were advised to negotiate in person. After this, “Chernovik” found a new printing house.

According to journalists, last week “an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to the Agency of Information and Press of the Republic and asked not to distribute the Chernovik newspaper through Dagpechat kiosks anymore.” In addition, the administration exerted “excessive influence” on the director of the new printing house, as well as private entrepreneurs selling the newspaper.

“Naturally, they couldn’t withstand the pressure, so we couldn’t print the newspaper and deliver it to the reader last week,” the journalists added. Currently, readers can receive their printed version only through private distributors or from the editorial office itself.

“The newspaper has not changed. We have written about theft, nepotism and corruption in Dagestan, and we continue to write about it. From room to room. From year to year,” the journalists emphasized.

• The independent Dagestan newspaper “Chernovik” often publishes critical publications, in particular in relation to the security forces .
• In August, the court fined the editor-in-chief of Chernovik, Maribek Agayev, 60 thousand rubles for reprinting Novaya Gazeta’s text about the war. Agayev said that the publication was deleted before the protocol was drawn up at the request of Roskomnadzor.
• In July 2019, Chernovik journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev was arrested . He is accused of participating in the activities of a terrorist organization (Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code), organizing its financing (Part 4 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code) and participation in an extremist organization (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). Businessman Kemal Tambiev and head of the Ansar Foundation Abubakar Rizvanov are also involved in the case. In the publication, Gadzhiev led the “Monoteos” column, where he wrote articles on Islamic topics or answered readers’ questions.