The Moscow apartment of the lawyer for the news portal Ingushetiya.ru searched by the authorities

читать на русском The authorities on 29 May searched the Moscow apartment of Kaloi Akhilgov, lawyer for the news portal Ingushetiya.ru. He was questioned and his computer and mobile phone were seized, although no charges were made against him. His lawyer, Mussa Pliev, said the search was linked to the case of Ingushetiya.ru which he is defending. A Moscow court on 26 May ordered the suspension of the website for “extremism” and a verdict is expected on 5 June. ----------------- 27.05 - Independent media threatened in Ingushetia читать на русском Reporters Without Boders today deplored the “dangerous” hounding of independent media outlets in the southeastern Russian republic of Ingushetia after a Moscow court yesterday ordered the suspension of Ingushetyia.ru (www.ingushetiya.ru), the country's only news website in the Ingushetian language, which is spoken by most people in some parts of northern Caucasus (including Ingushetia, Chechnya and Kazakhstan). The 19th issue of the independent paper Doch was banned from newsstands and at the airport in the Ingushetian capital, Magas, two days earlier because it contained an interview with former Ingushetian President Ruslav Aushev. “Depite the ban, Doch was distributed in Ingushetia and other places,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “But such censorship is pointless and also dangerous for freedom of expression in a region which is already very isolated.” Doch's editor, Abdullah Duduyev, said the ban had only given the paper free publicity and people had bought copies outside the country and brought them to Ingushetia. This also happened in 2004 when Doch ran an earlier interview with Aushev. Ingushetyia.ru was suspended after local officials accused it of “extremism.” Its editor, Magomet Yevloyev, was also ordered to stop all his online activity. He and his lawyer, Kaloi Akhigov, have filed an appeal, which will be heard on 5 June. Ingushetiya.ru reports on living conditions in the northern Caucasus and during last December's parliamentary elections it hosted a campaign to boycott the voting because of alleged corruption by MPs. Local authorities tried last November to redirect website visitors to a pornographic site and death threats were made to Yevloyev's father. In March, Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov set up his own website with a similar address (http://ingushetiyaru.net/) in an effort to counter Ingushetyia.ru. More on press freedom in Russia and working as a journalist in Ingushetia www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25426 www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25217 www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24509 More on Ingushetia.ru http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/2008/03/window-on-eurasia-zyazikov-tries-yet.html www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24816