MT: Critical Ingush News Site Under Fire
The Moscow Times
Friday, August 24, 2007. Issue 3728. Page 3.
Critical Ingush News Site Under Fire
By Alexander Osipovich
Staff Writer
Prosecutors said Thursday they have opened a criminal case against
Ingushetiya.ru, a web site known for its investigations of corruption
among Ingush authorities, for incitement of ethnic hatred.
The case stems from an article published on the site by Ingush
activist Khadzhimurat Kostoyev, Ingushetiya.ru said.
Magomed Yevloyev, director of Ingushetiya.ru, said authorities had
opened the case in response to the site’s muckraking journalism. “It
is 100 percent connected, in my opinion,” he said.
The case, which Moscow’s Kuntsevo District Prosecutor’s Office opened
July 30, results from a complaint by former North Ossetian leader
Alexander Dzasokhov, who now represents the republic in the Federation
Council, he said.
Dzasokhov complained to prosecutors that Kostoyev’s article violated
the law against inciting ethnic hatred, Yevloyev said. The article was
itself a response to an earlier article in a North Ossetian newspaper
about the disputed Prigorodny district that the web site said
“insulted the Ingush people.”
North Ossetia and Ingushetia fought a brief war over the district in
1992 and tensions have remained high ever since.
Yevloyev said the article in the North Ossetian newspaper “clearly
incited ethnic hatred,” but prosecutors had not taken any interest in
it. “It’s clear that they are taking a very one-sided position,” he
said.
A spokeswoman for Moscow city prosecutors said she could not comment
on the case. A statement by prosecutors about the case said the
investigation was ongoing, without providing details.
The case raised questions about press freedoms in the region, as
Yevloyev said he believed Ingush President Murat Zyazikov had offered
support to Dzasokhov’s initiative and was determined to shut down the
site, which has often been critical of him.
Phone calls to Zyazikov’s spokesman were not answered.
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