A few weeks back we reported on the case of reporter Yelena Maglevannaya (Grigory Pasko also interviewed her), and this week it looks like she is seeking political asylum in Finland. Whenever you have journalists who are fleeing the country in response to threats related to the state, I think it is fair to say that you have a free press problem. Maglevannaya’s offense was not to criticize the government, expose corruption, or even raise unpleasant stories about potentially illegitimate children, but rather she wrote about a case of abuse in one of Russia’s most sacred institutions – the prison system (FSIN). More than an elaborate government conspiracy, this case looks like an instrumentalization of the court system by a low-level functionary to escape accountability, but still underscores how those in positions of power can exert their will upon courts of law in Russia … and that’s not good for anybody.
It’s that or we believe the official story, that this Chechen prisoner caused all these gruesome injuries and traces of torture through self-beatings.
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3 Comments
How is this Russia any different from the USSR? How can a G-8 member have journalists seeking asylum in Finland?
That is a good question. There are many differences, I suppose, the ideological one being the most obvious one. I suppose a journalist asking for asylum in Finland Ms Maglevannaya’s case is more similar to a journalist from a Third-World dictatorship seeking asylum because of the wrath of the local dictator. (Like Nazarbayev’s son in Kazakstan, if what I’v eheard is true.)
@asehpe – I think you are refering to Rakhat Aliev, who is the son in law of Nazarbayev. Although he just published a book denouncing some of the deplorable politics and corruption in Kazakhstan, he was in on the take. More of a businessman escaping prosecution in Austria than a journalist seeking asylum because of his reporting.