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Fact Sheet on Educated Media Foundation

EDUCATED MEDIA FOUNDATION

Educated Media Foundation (formerly Internews Russia) is a 100% Russian entity. In 2006, in the course of complying with the new laws governing NGOs in Russia and to reflect its increasing focus on training, Internews Russia re-organized itself as the Educated Media Foundation (EMF). EMF is the full legal successor to Internews Russia (I/RU). Like Internews Russia, EMF is a100% Russian NGO, working in compliance with Russian laws and accounting rules. Internews Russia grew out of the work of Internews Network (US) in Moscow. It was originally registered as a Russian NGO that was affiliated with the US NGO. In 1997, the organization re-registered as Autonomous Noncommercial Organization (ANO) Internews, an independent Russian organization with its own “founders,” the Russian equivalent of directors. EMF’s work was supported by a major grant from USAID, a partnership with Internews Europe (Paris) on a large contract from the European Commission, and numerous small grants from or partnerships with other organizations. All these grants were registered and reported to the relevant Russian authorities. Over the last couple of years a significant portion of project costs, especially for training, began to be covered by tuition and fees paid by participating Russian media.

EMF is not the Moscow office of Internews Network (US). Like Internews Russia, EMF is independent from Internews Network (US) and works with them on the basis of an equal partnership. The USAID grant was made directly to the Russian organization, which had complete financial and managerial responsibility for the grant. Under EMF’s grant from USAID, Internews Network has a subgrant to provide some US-based support to EMF.

MANANA ASLAMAZYAN (legal name: Maria Albertovna Aslamayan)

Manana Aslamazyan is the President of the EMF and was the General Director of Internews Russia. Before Internews/EMF, she worked with Alexei K. Simonov to establish the Glasnost Defense Foundation (GDF); before that she managed the internationally acclaimed Theater na Maloi Bronnoi under the direction of Anatoly V. Efros. She was hired by Internews Network (US) in 1992, its first overseas employee; in 1993, after the American project director returned to the United States, she was named acting head of the office. Internews Network soon realized that an expatriate director was not needed, and she officially became the head of the Moscow office and its successor organizations, Internews Russia and EMF.

Born in Armenia, Manana is a Russian citizen and has lived in Moscow more than half her life. She is widowed; her son and grandson live in Moscow.

(Note: Aslamazyan is spelled with a ‘y,’ not an ‘i’ and pronounced with the stress on the last syllable “Ah-slah-mah-ZYAN”)

WHY EMF IS CLOSING

On April 18, more than a dozen members of the economic crimes police spent 11 hours at EMF’s offices in the central Moscow Dom Zhurnalista (House of Journalists) and seized all the computer and web servers and backups and enormous numbers of financial and administrative documents (CFO Nina Ossina insisted on making a list of each document taken; the list ran to 70 pages). Staff were required to stay in the office until the search was complete; however a seminar continued in the training room, and the police were polite at all times.

The seizure was supposedly carried out in connection with the criminal investigation of Manana Aslamazyan, who in January 2007 while going through customs after a private trip to Paris did not fill out a declaration form for 9,550 Euros and 5,130 Rubles (legally it is possible to bring the equivalent of $10,000 into the country without a declaration form; Manana had misremembered which currency the regulation was based on and was carrying the equivalent of about $12,500, less than 10,000 Euros). This kind of mistake is usually qualified by the customs authorities as an administrative violation and is dealt with by a fine of not more than 2,500 Rubles (just under $100). She was traveling with her colleague Gillian McCormack, a UK citizen, who was also carrying cash worth less than 10,000 euros but more than 10,000 dollars, and also mistakenly believed she was not required to fill out a declaration. The money they were carrying was their own personal money; Manana had taken a personal loan from a friend in Paris. The women did not conceal anything; they showed the cash to customs officials when asked and were not searched. They gave statements at the airport but were not detained.

The first sign that this would not be treated as a minor administrative infraction came 10 days later when an NTV report was aired that implied several things about the event that were not true, for example that they had hidden the money, and mentioned the possibility of the criminal charge of “contraband” which can lead to up to five years in jail.

RUSSIAN AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE

There has been considerable Russian and international coverage of this case. A representative comment appears in the New York Review of Books, in an essay by Jamey Gambrell called “Putin Strikes Again”: “Murdering journalists is simply the most visible manifestation of the constant campaign against the press. Far more effective are the economic, judicial, and administrative measures being used systematically to quash human rights and information-gathering organizations and other genuinely independent members of civil society . . . One of the most recent victims of the Putin bureaucracy has been an NGO called the Educated Media Foundation (EMF), formerly known as Internews Russia.”

Over 2000 Russian journalists have signed an open letter to President Putin in support of Manana and EMF, and a letter for international media professionals is circulating.

SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

• Manana and Gillian were stopped in the Moscow airport on January 21st.

• The search of the office and seizure of documents took place on April 18.

• An open letter to Putin was posted on the Tomsk TV-2 website on April 23.

• The open letter to Putin was delivered with over 2000 signatures, on May 8. As of this writing, there has been no official response, although the Presidential administration is supposed to respond within one month. The Moscow journalist who delivered the letter has called several times to inquire; she is constantly referred to different offices.

• Lawyers for EMF and Manana have filed a number of petitions on the improper conduct of the investigation and the illegality of the search and seizure, and demanding the return of the documents and computers. Hearings on these motions were repeatedly delayed by administrative means, the transfer of jurisdiction from one investigative unit to another, etc.

• On June 19, Manana announced in an open letter that due to the impossibility of working in Russia, she was accepting a consultancy with Internews Network. She has no plans to seek any other citizenship and looks forward to working in her own country again soon. Alexei K. Simonov has agreed to serve as acting President of the EMF until Manana feels safe returning to Russia.

• On June 20, the Golovinskii Regional Court held a hearing and on June 21 gave a decision rejecting EMF’s arguments and ruling the investigators’ actions legal. On that day, prosecutors revealed that they had earlier filed criminal charges of smuggling against Manana and had transferred the materials seized from EMF to the Deputy General prosecutor for a determination on whether to open investigations on two additional criminal charges: illegal enterprise and money laundering.

• Lawyers for EMF and Manana continue to appeal each decision against them. On July 9, the Tverskoi court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the legality of the seizure. If necessary, EMF lawyers are prepared to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.

• On advice of their lawyers, Manana and Gillian have left Russia and are currently based in Paris, France while their case works its way through the courts.

Last updated July 6, 2007

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