Union of Journalists of Krasnodar Territory doubts authenticity of Novikov's interview

The Grand Jury of the Union of Journalists of the Krasnodar Territory has questioned the authenticity of the interview taken by journalist Svetlana Kravchenko from Dmitri Novikov, former judge of the Khosta District of Sochi "Into One Prisoners' Dock", in which he spoke about corruption that covered, in his opinion, the judicial community of the region. However, the Collegium of the Grand Jury of the Union of Journalists of Russia, which will sit later, may nullify the decision of the Krasnodar Jury, Vitaly Chelyshev, a member of the Collegium, said.

The material in question was placed on August 25 on the website "Kasparov.ru". At a sitting on September 7, the Collegium of the Jury of the Union of Journalists of the Krasnodar Territory, chaired by Professor Alexander Ostashevskiy, Doctor of Philology, considered, under a request of the Board of Judges of the Krasnodar Territory, the material by Svetlana Kravchenko and decided that the journalist "had generated" the interview from Judge Novikov's statements, which are at advocate's disposal.

Mr Ostashevskiy told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the conclusion was based on the fact that the Krasnodar SIZO (pre-trial prison) of the FSB, where the former judge is now kept as a suspect of plundering "Olympic" lands, has no evidences about the interview taken in any form.

The journalist asserts that the interview had been taken absolutely lawfully, with the help of mother of the former judge, who is his official representative. "Novikov's mother had addressed me and asked to highlight his position, saying that the local press was pouring dirt on him. Having studied all the materials, I formulated the questions; and she handed them over to Novikov. He gave written answers, which I then decoded," said Svetlana Kravchenko.

The sitting of the Grand Jury of the Union of Journalists of the Krasnodar Territory also stated that in the course of preparing the interview Svetlana Kravchenko broke the Law "On Mass Media" and a number of provisions of the Code of Professional Ethics of Russian Journalist, in particular, as concluded by the members of the Collegium, she had ignored point 2, Article 49, of the above Law, having disseminated unchecked data about corruption of particular persons contained in the answers of the former judge.

According to Kravchenko, the decision of the Territorial Collegium of the Union of Journalists, where she was labelled as a "participant of the information war" and her material - as "customized", was published in local newspapers; and circulation of some of them, according to the journalist, was increased by several times.

In this context, she lodged a complaint on the decision of the territorial collegium to the Union of Journalists of Russia, which was considered at the sitting of the Collegium of the Grand Jury of the Union of Journalists of Russia on September 16 in Moscow. The official opinion of the Moscow body is not known yet; however, as reported by Vitaly Chelyshev, a member of the Collegium, who took part in the consideration, the document to be adopted by the outcomes of the sitting will be hardly interpreted in favour of the Krasnodar Collegium of the Grand Jury.

Svetlana Kravchenko is sure that the statement of Krasnodar judges and the subsequent decision of the local Union of Journalists are the elements of the "massed pressure" on her for narrating Mr Novikov's viewpoints.