Russian rights council asks minister to probe providers’ dropping of Dozhd TV

(Interfax – February 4, 2014) A number of members of the presidential human rights council have sent a letter to Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev asking him to check the actions of major Russian satellite TV operators that have dropped independent television channel Dozhd from their packages, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 4 February.

“We believe that the actions of satellite TV operators bear evidence of a cartel agreement and create unequal opportunities for different channels, thereby limiting fair competition between them. Therefore we ask you to conduct a pre-investigation check for evidence of a crime under Article 178 of the Russian Criminal Code,” the letter published on the council’s official website says.

The letter was signed by journalists Nikolay Svanidze, Ivan Zasurskiy and others, and the collection of signatures is continuing, Interfax reported.

According to its authors, the actions of satellite TV operators infringe on! subscribers’ rights. “In our view, operators have not only taken on the role of censor, which is directly prohibited by Article 29 of the Russian Constitution, but also have seriously violated the rights and legitimate interests of citizens (subscribers), because they have unilaterally limited access to pre-paid media products,” the letter says.

“Moreover, they have violated the rights and legitimate interests of regional cable TV operators that have lost an opportunity to retransmit Dozhd TV through their networks and now face substantial losses,” the letter says.

Meanwhile, Vadim Dengin – first deputy chair of the Duma’s Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communication Committee and LDPR MP – insists on the necessity of clarifying the legal foundations for Dozhd TV’s broadcasting and intends to do so at the highest possible level.

“Show your papers, and there won’t be any complaints. But there are serious concerns that Dozhd TV was broadc! asting without the relevant documents,” he told Interfax on 4 February.

Dengin also said that he is preparing a protocol instruction to be considered at the Duma’s next plenary session on 11 February in which he asks two parliamentary committees to appeal to the Prosecutor-General, the Russian Investigations Committee and the relevant ministries to “definitely understand who is to blame [for the fact] that Dozhd TV channel was broadcast without proper rights”, Dengin added.

He also hopes that his initiative will be supported by all members of the Russian parliament.

Last week, Dengin, along with A Just Russia MP Igor Zotov, asked the communications ministry to check the status of Dozhd on satellite TV networks.