Founders of the "Educated Media" declare self-liquidation

Today, the "Educated Media" Foundation, which is the assignee of the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization (ANCO) "Internews," has declared its self-liquidation, Radio Liberty broadcasts.

Alexei Simonov, acting Chairman of the Foundation and head of the liquidating commission, President of the Foundation for Defence of Glasnost, has emphasized in his interview to the "Interfax" Agency that the liquidation decision was made because of the complicated situation, now developed around the Foundation. At the same time, he did not exclude creation of a new similar organization in due course of time.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already reported that on April 18, within the criminal case against Manana Aslamazyan, accused of money contraband, documents and computers were confiscated from the office of the "Educated Media" Foundation.

On June 21, the Golovinskiy District Court of Moscow found this confiscation legal, and on May 29 the accounts of the organization were frozen.

On June 15, a charge was presented to Manana Aslamazyan of contraband under Part 1, Article 188, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to her advocate Victor Parshutkin, the charge was presented in absentia, without any notification of Ms Aslamazyan or her defence, which is illegal, as the advocate asserts.

Russian journalists wrote an open letter to President of Russia Vladimir Putin, calling him to interpose in Manana Aslamazyan's case. They treated the MIA (Ministry of Internal Affairs) actions to be another step towards impairment of civil rights in Russia. More than two thousand persons have already signed the letter.

We remind you also that M. Aslamazyan accepted an offer to become a consultant at the "Internews International," where the "Educated Media" were a member, and left Russia.