Public meeting in support of newspaper

A public meeting was held today in the capital of Dagestan, Makhachkala, in support of Chernovik ("Rough Copy") newspaper. About 40 police officers led by Sabir Yusupov, deputy chief of the Makhachkala City Division of Internal Affairs, suddenly tried to prevent the meeting. They referred to an order of the Makhachkala administration and tried to persuade the organisers to move the meeting from the central square to a park in the city, Caucasian Knot's correspondent reports.

A member of the Dagestani legislature, Suleiman Uladiyev, said in reply, "This is not a legal issue, but a moral one. Are we a bundle of gangsters or extremists who have come to propagate their views after all? If so, then send me and everyone to the detention centre. We are for the unity and integrity of Dagestan and for equal conditions for everyone without exception."

Khajimurad Kamalov, director of Freedom of Speech LLC which is a co-founder of Chernovik, said, "We demand terminating illegitimate funding of so-called 'governmental' media, while other newspapers have actually faced an economic boycott."

The Dagestani affiliate of Rospechat, a state-run print media distribution enterprise, had unilaterally terminated the contract for distributing Chernovik through its chain. Besides, the printing house Lotos LLC had refused to print the newspaper. In Mr Kamalov's opinion, the Chernovik faced these problems because "it is the only publication in Dagestan that gives a systemic analysis of the need to reform our government, first of all the republican one, as it is absolutely corrupted."

• New action against rights defenders
• Pressure on journalist suspected

More about freedom of press in Russia's North Caucasus:

• Human Rights Practices in Russia's North Caucasus - 2004