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close TV and radio company in Chechnya http://www.wprost.pl/ar/?O=48928&C=72 Wprost in Polish (excerpts transl. by me) GTRT in the Chechen capital has cancelled speeches of four candidates for president of Chechnya. All journalists quit their jobs. According to Itar-Tass, on Thursday night on the main news programme of the Chechen TV was read a communique that "the station pauses brodcasting for indefinable time" Situation is not clear as the agency doesn't state who signed the communique and if any reasons for this decision were mentioned in it. According to it, just after when the communique was broadcast the building of GTRT was surrounded by some police units. The incident took place after Bislan Gantamirov's dismissal and subordination of the media to Taus Dzhabrailov - who's chief of the Kadyrov's election committee. On the subject of this incident all agencies except Itar-Tass and newsru.com keep quiet. According to newsru.com http://www.newsru.com/russia/05sep2003/prezident.html ["The Grozny TV-radio company have seized Kadyrov's people"] the whole journalistic team of the Chechen radio has quit. "After liquidation of the Press Ministry, the management of the radiostation has been totally changed and people have quit instead to wait to be fired" - said some anonymous official from the radio and TV authority. He added, because of the strike and the building's encirclement, the public TV and radio are not able to broadcast speeches of first candidates, including Akhmad Kadyrov ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.gazeta.ru/2003/09/05/ohranakadyro.shtml "Automatic guns" of Kadyrov's have seized the Grozny TV-radio station Akhmad Kadyrov has taken unprecedented risky step. Members of his of personal security service last night took under their control the Groznyy TV and editorial staffs of all eight newspapers that are published in Chechnya. MVD of chechni and Press Ministry of Russia in this pre-election incident so far are not involved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Official on situation in Chechnya. 05.09.2003 MOSCOW, September 5 (Itar-Tass) - The situation during the first stage of Chechnya's election campaign has been calm, acting Chechnya president Anatoly Popov told a news conference at Itar-Tass on Friday. "I don't see any particular faults in conducting it, it was possible to keep the situation calm in the republic, with all the presidential hopefuls conducting the campaign correctly," Popov said. The government has met its commitments before Chechnya's election commission, providing it with new rooms and equipment for promotion of each candidate. "I'm hoping that the second stage -- which will last a month -- will also be normal, businesslike and calm," the official noted. The Chechen people will make their choice democratically, he emphasized. Chechnya will go to the polls to elect its president on October 5. Ten candidates are running for the post. As for refusal by reporters from the Grozny state television and radio company to go on the air, Popov said it won't affect the coverage of the election campaign or promotion of the candidates. ------------------------------------------------ 5 September 2003 09:58 Police close TV and radio company in Chechnya The work of one of the two Chechen TV and radio companies has been stopped. Grozny State TV and radio broadcasting company announced in the Thursday evening news block that it was stopping the broadcasting for an unidentified period of time. Also on Thursday, the building occupied by the company was blocked by units of the Chechen Interior Ministry. Chechen Press Minister Bislan Gantamirov was fired from the republican government on Wednesday and his ministry was merged with the Ministry for Ethnic Affairs and Foreign Relations. Gantamirov is a known opponent of the acting President of Chechnya Akhmad Kadyrov, who is also among the most hopeful candidates at the forthcoming presidential elections in the republic. The propaganda campaign for the presidential elections in Chechnya starts on September 5. //Gazeta ru// |