Press Releases

Press Release by the "Educated Media" Foundation (Legal Successor of “Internews”)

May 4, 2006

(Unofficial English translation - original in Russian)

Dear colleagues,

We continue to inform you about the latest developments in the situation with Internews.

On 2 May the Golovinskii regional court of Moscow set a new date for the consideration of the complaint brought by the Educated Media Fund regarding the actions of members of the department of economic security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The representatives of that department should have presented to the court the documents on the basis of which the 18 April seizure of servers and administrative-financial documents was carried out. However only one staff person from the transport prosecutor’s office arrived in court, without the documents from the case and without any information about the investigation. A new hearing is set for 10 May.

As you remember, at the end of April EMF filed a complaint to the court abou the illegal and unfouced actions of the investigator. At the same time, EMF’s board of founders filed a petition with the Prosecutor General of the Russia Federation and the investigative agencies of the MVD to have the seized documents and electronic media returned. They also appealed to the Public Chamber under the President and to the to Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Mr. Lukin requesting them to get involved in the situation and stop the  persecution of the organization and its leader Ms. Manana Aslamazyan.

Our organization’s activities are suspended. Almost all staff are on vacation. Information about activities planned for May and June 2007 is in Press Releast of 26 April.