Moscow - Russia's new president Dmitry Medvedev has
rejected a bill that would allow courts to shut media for publishing
libelous statements, Russian newspapers reported Tuesday.
In a letter to Russia's lower house on Monday, Medvedev said the
bill threatened media freedom and should be scrapped.
Enactment of the legislation could 'create obstacles to the normal
functioning of mass media,' Medvedev was quoted as saying in the
letter.
Observers were puzzled whether Medvedev's statement could be read
as his intention to take a more liberal line than his strong-armed
mentor and predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is accused of a rollback
of civil freedoms during his eight-year tenure.
The most contentious inclusion in the bill, which was approved
399-1 in its first reading, is a three-strikes-your-out policy that
allows the courts to close media outlets for publishing slanderous or
extremist statements.
Oleg Panfilov, the head of the Centre for Journalists in Extreme
Situations, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa at the time that the
bill could serve as a tool of the authorities to threaten wayward
media.
The controversial amendment was added by the bill's author United
Russia deputy Robert Shegel, a former spokesman for the pro-Putin
youth group Nashi, after tabloid Moskovsky Korrespondent ran an
article linking Putin to 25-year-old Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva.
The tabloid caused a stir with its announcement of Putin's divorce
in a media climate where the personal life of ex-KGB officer Putin
never makes print and his wife and daughters are closely guarded from
the public eye.
While Moskovsky Korrespondent's article appeared on the Friday,
other media did not carry the rumours until the following Wednesday
and even then cited foreign publications who had picked up the story.
The tabloid was shut down shortly after Putin dismissed its story
as 'rubbish.' Publishers cited financial reasons for its closure, but
critics charge the incident was an example of the Kremlin's heavy
handedness in dealing with the media.
With Putin at the helm most major television networks and high
circulation journals came under the Kremlin's control.
But significantly Medvedev's letter came after the ruling United
Russia party, had changed its position on the bill, perhaps denoting
his will to make his position known on the issue, business daily
Kommersant said Tuesday.
'Medvedev has considered it necessary to declare his position on
the question in spite of the fact that United Russia had already
taken the decision to reject the legislation and draft a new version
of the law,' wrote the newspaper.
Medvedev's letter follows an inauguration speech that promised
more personal freedoms and a stronger, more independent rule of law,
which has fostered hope among rights campaigners that the former
corporate lawyer hails a thaw in Kremlin policy.
But other observers are skeptical that the political transition
will bring change, pointing to the influence Putin has maintained as
prime minster and the long personal relationship between the two
leaders.
USA
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