IN OREL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE TRIES TO PREVENT MEDIA FROM COVERING CASE OF DANE CHRISTENSEN
Orlovskie Novosti, 30 May 2018
Lawyers for the prosecutor's office on 30 May, during the judicial session in the case of the Dane Dennis Christensen, filed a petition in which they asked the court to restrict representatives of news media in coverage of the judicial process.
In particular, the side of the state prosecution asked the court to adopt measures so that journalists would not publish detailed information about the course of the judicial sessions, not cover reports of facts by witnesses, and not give the names of persons speaking in court.
Dennis Christensen's attorneys spoke against granting the aforesaid petition. They called such action of the prosecutor's office—restricting the freedom of the press to disseminate information—impermissible. "In Russia there is constitutional freedom of the press. Therefore we do not consider this petition to be based on law," attorney Anton Bogdanov declared. His colleague, attorney Irina Krasnikova, added that the criminal procedural code permits even broadcasting of judicial sessions, and therefore it is not at all necessary to speak of the printed news media. Defense attorney Viktor Zhenkov also added that the trial in the Dane's case is public, that is, open.
"The principle of publicity should be observed. I hope that we live in a free country. We have the right to disseminate information freely. But now the state prosecution, in essence, proposes to ban the law on the news media. Representatives of the news media are told: put a lock on your mouth and tell nothing to anybody," Zhenkov added, and he asked the court to refuse to grant the petition. Dennis Christensen declared that this petition violates his right to a fair judicial proceeding.
After returning from the conference room, Judge Aleksei Rudnev refused to grant the prosecutor's office's petition. At the same time he called the attention of representatives of news media to the fact that in the future they must not abuse their right.
At the present time, the trial is in the stage of questioning witnesses. In particular, the questioning of a secret witness under the pseudonym of "Aleksei Petrovich Ermolov" is under way.
Danish citizen Dennis Christensen was arrested on 26 May 2017 in Orel. Since then he has been held in a SIZO. He is accused of directing the activity of an extremist organization (art. 282.2 of the Criminal Code of RF). The state prosecution insists that after the ban of the religions organization of Jehovah's Witnesses of Orel, Christensen continued to direct it and the organization itself acted under his leadership.
In July 2017, the rights advocacy organization Memorial recognized Christensen as a political prisoner. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 May 2018)
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