Russian Journalist on trial for satirising Putin

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the prosecution for criminal insult of a Russian journalist who satirised President Vladimir Putin’s campaign to boost the birth rate. Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor-in-chief of the independent news website Kursiv, went on trial Thursday in the city of Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, charged with insulting the president in a May article titled ‘Putin as Russia’s phallic symbol.’ The article satirised Putin’s goal, outlined in a May 10 speech to the Federal Assembly, of increasing Russia’s population. Under Article 319 of Russia’s criminal code, ‘Insulting a Public Official,’ Rakhmankov could be penalised with up to one year of corrective labour. Local prosecutors brought the case without the involvement of Putin or presidential representatives, according to local press reports. ‘Prosecutors should never resort to the criminal law to shield public figures from the press. Satire is an essential and vital element of democratic discourse’, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. (Committee to Protect Journalists,September 22, 2006)

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