Head of radio station "Echo Moskvy-Makhachkala" treats broadcasting suspension as politically motivated

The suspension of the radio station "Echo Moskvy-Makhachkala" is unjustified and politically motivated, said Zaur Gadjiev, the editor-in-chief of the radio, who believes that the actions of state structures are contrary to the law.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 11 Zaur Gadjiev reported that under the demand of the "Roskomnadzor" (Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) the broadcasting of his radio was switched off. The Dagestani lawyer Rasul Kadiev has associated the suspension of broadcasting with the broadcast on December 10, when the journalist Orhan Cemal spoke on air.

According to Gadjiev, all the facts indicate that the suspension of the radio was "legally unjustified", since there is still not a single document that could justify the suspension.

"In the coming days we plan to appeal to relevant bodies with a demand to restore the rule of law and punish those responsible for what has happened," said Gadjiev.

According to his story, the radio "Echo Moskvy-Makhachkala" is the only non-state radio in Dagestan, which specializes in covering public-political topics and "providing opportunities for expressing opinions not only to officials, NGOs and experts, but also to ordinary citizens of Dagestan."

In its turn, the "Roskomnadzor" insists that the suspension of the "Echo Moskvy-Makhachkala" has nothing to do with politics, but only with technical issues related to the location of the transmitter.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.