“RABOCHY” ISSUE ON UNIQUE CANDIDATE SEIZED :: Charter'97 :: News

Print run of the special issue of independent newspaper “Rabochy”, dedicated to the unique candidate from wide public coalition Vladimir Goncharik, was arrested earlier in the day by the officers from the Committee for financial research in the “Magic” publishing house. The clampdown was initiated by deputy head of the State Committee for Press Vladimir Glushakov. Glushakov had been temporarily appointed acting director of “Magic”, although Yuri Budko remained de-facto director. The state official subjected the press to harsh censorship and ruled to cease publishing “Rabochy” issues in breach of law.

According to “Rabochy” editor-in-chief Viktor Ivashkevich, problems with printing started yesterday. The newly emerged director expressed utter dissatisfaction over the contents of the special issue, which included Goncharik’s election platform and interview with his elective office leader Syamon Domash. Same day Glushakov called off the printing process, claiming that the press wouldn’t function without advance payment, though under the signed agreement the money is paid not until the printing process is over. As a result, out of the planned 400,000 copies, they only produced 40,000.

Today “Rabochy’s” editorial board, despite the violation of the agreement, paid in advance for the special issue’s publication. However, instead of resuming the process Glushakov called for the Committee for financial research, which placed arrest on the already produced 40,000 issues. According to Ivashkevich, he and “Nasha Svaboda” publisher, who lost two weeks ago over 300,000 issues, had never been informed of the seizure beforehand.