04 June 2004 03:36
Noviye Izvestia Charges Filed
Former Noviye Izvestia editor Igor Golembiovsky and his deputy, Sergei Agafonov, have been charged with abuse of
authority and intentionally bankrupting the newspaper, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
Golembiovsky, who edited the liberal newspaper from its inception in 1997 to 2003, is accused with Agafonov of
running up fake debts in transactions that included selling off equipment cheaply and later renting it back at a higher
price.
Golembiovsky was fired as the newspaper's general director in February 2003 and shortly after quit as editor,
saying he could not publish what he wanted. The newspaper was evicted from its offices and suspended publication,
resuming four months later under a new editor.
An investigation was opened by the Prosecutor General's Office in April 2003. Both journalists face up to 5 1/2
years in prison if convicted.
Golembiovsky on Thursday denied any wrongdoing, saying it was not possible to bankrupt a newspaper that never turned
a profit. "Noviye Izvestia has always been loss making and survived only on sponsors' money," he told
Interfax.
Noviye Izvestia, which was founded by Golembiovsky and other former Izvestia journalists and effectively bankrolled
by Boris Berezovsky, had been critical of President Vladimir Putin's policy in Chechnya. In May 2003, Golembiovsky
started Russky Kurier, a similarly independent newspaper that "has some trenchant stories" and appears to be
financially stable, said Boris Timoshenko, head of media monitoring at Glasnost Defense Foundation.
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[The Moscow Times] |
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