OSCE media freedom representative concerned about decision to strip Russia’s Rosbalt news agency of registration

VIENNA, 4 November 2013 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about developments regarding Rosbalt information agency, one of the biggest online news portals in Russia.

“The decision to invalidate Rosbalt’s certificate of registration is an excessive measure. It sends a worrying signal about media freedom and pluralism in the Russian Federation,” Mijatović said.

On 31 October, the Moscow City Court issued a ruling invalidating Rosbalt’s certificate of registration, based upon an action filed by Roskomnadzor, the federal telecommunications regulator. The move followed warnings sent to Rosbalt claiming violation of the law on mass media and posting materials that allegedly contained obscene language. Rosbalt promptly deleted the videos from its website. According to media reports, the materials in question were publicly available videos posted on YouTube.

“I urge the Russian authorities to carefully reconsider the application of media law from the point of view of proportionality; as situations like this might put in question the very existence of media outlets,” Mijatović said. “In my letter of 28 October to Alexander Zharov, the Head of Roskomnadzor, I requested that Rosbalt’s case be reviewed, which unfortunately did not happen.”

“I noted that the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation and the Chairman of the Public Chamber’s Commission on Support of the Media also expressed dissatisfaction of the way this case was addressed by the authorities,” she said.

“I hope the appellate court when making a decision in this case will take into account the need to safeguard media pluralism, a commitment that all OSCE participating States, including Russia, have undertaken,” Mijatović said.