Authorities have accused the Dagestan weekly Chernovik of sympathizing with Islamic militants who have been launching almost daily attacks against police.
Chernovik editor Nadira Isayeva told the AP that officials were seeking to close the newspaper because they were angry over its exposure of police brutality and corruption, which in turn helped swell the number of Islamic militants:
"The main reason behind the persecution of the newspaper is our journalists' opinion about the activities of law-enforcement structures, which differs from the official view."
A regional government official responded that the lawsuit was a legitimate response to what he described as the
paper's attempt to justify the militants' actions, specifically:
"They can write about violations by some police officers, but they shouldn't blacken the Interior Ministry as a whole."
I think it speaks volumes about Russian officialdom that they think closing the newspaper is what makes sense here. It is entirely rational for these guys to say "this differs from the official view" as the explanation to answer any questions about why the newspaper should be shut down.
Indeed, dowjo. It seems very difficult to paint this event in any color that will be favorable to Russia. Still, of course I would like to know the opinion of any commenter here who is pro-Russian government: what real sensible reasons could there have been for closing this newspaper? Was it just the desire to silence the opposition, or is there something we're all missing here?