Newspaper editors: Abkhazian authorities hamper independent editions

This week in Abkhazia the issue of the independent newspaper "Chegemskaya Pravda" failed to appear, and another paper - the "Wanted Paper" - was forced to be printed by means of a risograph. According to editors of the editions, which position themselves as independent, the printing house named "Alasharbaga", where the papers used to be printed for a couple of years already, suddenly rejected them, saying that small circulations are unprofitable for them.

In the opinion of editors Inal Khashig and Izida Chaniya, the ban on printing is purely political, and the authorities press on the printing house manager to reject their newspapers. They correlate in with preparation for 2010 presidential election.

"Once the state declares democratic values and supports the freedom of speech and pluralism of opinions, it should not hamper setting up platforms for expressing various opinions," Mr Khashig said on air of the "Abaza-TV" Channel.

Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab has refuted the charges. According to his version, authorities could not forbid these editions, since they were not printed in the state-owned printing house, as reported by the "Aspynpress" Agency.

The situation was also commented by Christian Bzhaniya, head of Department for Governmental Information and Mass Communications, who has characterized the situation as "commercial" and emphasized that "from the journalistic point of view it was unethical to comment the situation in the aspect as the editors did."