Special Service against the “Diapazon”
January 27, 2004
On 27 January at 10 a.m., a detachment for special assignments burst in the office of the publishing house Arsenal, a founder of the newspaper Diapason and television Rifma. They tied up security guards and pushed them into the bus they arrived in. Vladimir Mikhailov, director of Rifma, was taken to his office, where he faced three investigative officers of the regional police. The action was coordinated by Zhaubaev, head of inquest department with
Aktubinsk police, and Major Dautaeva, an investigative officer with the same.
The law-enforcement officers behaved harshly, forbade the staff to move around, blocked all entrance doors and locked cameramen in back rooms. At 12:30 commando were withdrawn, having confiscated Arsenal's list of members of staff and several orders of job assignment.
The armed detachment came following a criminal case of "malignant non-execution of court decision" by Vladimir Mikhailov, founder of Diapason. The essence of the court decision pronounced by the city court two years ago was that the Publishing House Arsenal had to displace the main wall of its warehouse to 70 centimeters Till now, the publisher's lawyers have failed to get an explanation from bailiffs on how to practically move a concrete wall
column supporting the roof (one of the pillars happened to be situated at the other's territory) and exactly Mikhailov was obliged to do this, despite the fact he is the head of another company. And now the new unanswerable question has arisen: how the list of members of staff can help resolve the issue of displacing the main wall of a big building?
The incident occurred in the context of two more criminal cases against the anagement of Diapason pending at the moment. And these represent a real alarming scene if to recall a 2 month suspension of the periodical in 1999, what had been preceded by a violent libelous campaign, beatings of 6 newspaper's staff members in recent years, and to add here a recent remark of the head of the Regional Union of Entrepreneurs, Ismagambetov, who said,
"We will bring to ruin this company and change its owner."
Kaleyeva Tamara,
President of International Foundation
for Protection of Speech "Adil Soz"
Office 706, 25 Zhambyl Street,
Almaty, 480100, Republik of Kazakhstan,
tel/fax: +7(3272)911670
e-mail kaleyeva@adilsoz.kz
www.cafspeech.kz