New York, January 11, 2002—CPJ is gravely concerned over today's
ruling by the Presidium of the Highest Arbitration Court upholding the
liquidation of the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Company (MNVK), parent
company of Russia's only independent, nationwide television channel, TV-6.
The suit was originally lodged in September by the pension fund of LUKoil-Garant,
a minority shareholder in TV-6. LUKoil-Garant is a subsidiary of the giant
LUKoil Corporation, which owns 15 percent of TV-6. The Russian industrial
magnate Boris Berezovsky, who is a bitter opponent of President Vladimir
Putin, owns 75 percent of the station, either outright or through other
companies that he controls. Originally, the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled
to close MNVK on the basis of an obscure Russian law that prohibits companies
from running a deficit for more than two years. TV-6 appealed, and though
a Moscow appellate court upheld the liquidation in November, another appeal
from TV-6 led to a ruling in the station's favor on December 29. However,
as of January 1, 2002, the Russian parliament repealed a law that allowed
shareholders to liquidate their own companies, thus eliminating the legal
basis for proceedings against TV-6.
But on January 4, the deputy chairman of the Highest Arbitration Court,
Eduard Remov, disputed the December decision and filed a protest with
the Presidium of the Highest Arbitration Court, which upheld the television
company's liquidation today.
The Arbitration Court rejected TV-6's argument against
liquidation. Instead, Judge Remov argued that since the original ruling
came while the shareholder liquidation law was still in force, LUKoil's
claim was valid and should be upheld.
Although TV-6 has exhausted all appeals with the Russian arbitration court
system, the station plans to appeal the case to the Russian Constitutional
Court and the European Court of Human Rights, according to local and international
news reports.
"The final liquidation of TV-6 is a great blow to independent journalism
in Russia," CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said today. "It seems clear
that this was a political move rather than a shareholder dispute."
Justice or vendetta?
On Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher stated,
"We continue to urge Russian officials to ensure that TV-6 gets a full
and fair hearing and ensure that press freedom and the rule of law can
be best served by keeping TV-6 on the air," said Boucher, according to
The Associated Press.
The TV-6 case is strikingly similar to the recent hostile takeover of
the independent television network NTV by Gazprom, a state-dominated oil
and gas monopoly.
NTV came under fire from the Kremlin for its outspoken coverage of
Chechnya and other sensitive issues, which often contradicted official
propaganda. Immediately following the April 2001 takeover, many high-profile
NTV journalists joined TV-6. Since then, the station's ratings have improved
greatly.
Although TV-6 has up to six months to complete the liquidation, the Ministry
of Information and Press could take away the station's broadcasting license
at any moment. On January 14, MNVK will hold a shareholder meeting to
set a time frame for liquidating TV-6's assets.
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