IPI concerned about Russian authorities' behaviour in EMF case
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in over 110 countries, is writing to express its growing concern at the behaviour of the Russian authorities in the case of the Educated Media Foundation (EMF); a non-profit journalists’ training organisation formerly known as Internews Russia.
According to information provided to IPI, on 21 January, Manana Aslamazyan, the President of EMF, was stopped by a customs officer at Sheremetyevo airport and found to be carrying an amount of foreign currency exceeding the proscribed limit. The authorities subsequently instituted a criminal enquiry that caused Aslamazyan to leave the country for France. On 19 June, she was charged with smuggling and faces five years in prison.
On 18 April, around 20 investigating officers from the Interior Ministry raided the EMF offices. The officers remained at the premises for 11 hours and took away EMF’s servers, as well as financial and administrative records. In May, the organisation’s bank accounts were frozen.
As a result of the raid and the freezing of assets, EMF was forced to close and suspend its training programmes; many of its 65-member team have been forced to look for alternative employment.
The raid on EMF comes at a time when the Russian government has attacked civil society claiming that many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are financed by foreign governments for the sole purpose of interfering in the country’s internal affairs. Moreover, there are also mounting concerns over press freedom in Russia, particularly concerning impunity for the murder of journalists.
Although IPI makes no comment on Aslamazyan’s case, it is concerned that the authorities are using an individual’s breach of customs law to silence an independent legal entity involved in improving the practices of journalism in Russia. This will have a detrimental impact not only on Russian journalists, but also on a society already facing a lack of independent sources of information.
IPI also believes that the conflation of the case against Aslamazyan and the pursuit of EMF is politically motivated. Indeed, it would appear that by acting in this extreme manner the authorities are sending a signal to other NGO’s operating in Russia that they may face similar treatment.
If true, such actions only hurt those supported by the organisations. IPI would remind Your Excellency that in the past you have consistently expressed a commitment to Russian civil society. Therefore, we would call on you to uphold this commitment and to do everything in your power to ensure that EMF and any other organisation is allowed to continue with its vital work free of state harassment or interference.
We thank you for your attention.
Johann P. Fritz
IPI Director