In Dagestan, journalists accuse newspaper founder of attempting to get rid of unwanted workers

After having dismissed Andrei Melamedov, editor-in-chief of the paper, Rizvan Rizvanov, founder of the "Nastoyascheye Vremya" (Present Time) newspaper, now makes attempts to get rid of others unwanted employees.

Journalists are also accusing him of giving direct orders "to go after" the President of the Republic Mukhu Aliev, performing the role of "informational killers".

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed that last week one of Dagestan weeklies - the "Nastoyascheye Vremya" - failed to appear in due time. In that issue, the journalists of the newspaper were going to publish an open letter to the readers and founders of the edition, however, under the decision of the Director General of the LLC "Editorial Board of the 'Nastoyascheye Vremya' Weekly", former official of the Ministry for Nationalities of Dagestan Rizvan Rizvanov, the issue was withdrawn from publication.

In protest against the decision, Andrei Melamedov, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, wrote a dismissal application. As to Mr Rizvanov, he explained the failure of the issue by the fact that "the printing house had no electricity, and Melamedov was dismissed for breaching the labour discipline."

Besides, Rizvanov handed over to the editor-in-chief the list of persons forbidden to mentioning, saying that this was "the will of the founders."

Now, Rizvan Rizvanov is taking new attempts to press the journalists. According to the journalists of the newspaper, all the door locks in the editorial office were replaced, and the personnel was strictly forbidden to come to work in the weekends and stay late in their rooms after work.

Besides, the newspaper workers who disagree with the policy of the founders were dropped down in their positions.