RFE/RL - 01.29.2004

 

 

 

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

UKRAINIAN COURT CLOSES MAJOR OPPOSITION NEWSPAPER FOR PURPORTED ANTI-SEMITISM 


(RFE/RL NewsLine) A district court in Kyiv on 28 January ordered the closure of the "Silski visti" newspaper after finding it guilty of fomenting interethnic antagonisms in Ukraine, Interfax and UNIAN reported, quoting the Socialist Party press service. The decision reportedly followed a lawsuit by an organization called the Jewish Antifascist Committee, which charged that "Silski visti" reprinted two anti-Semitic articles written by Professor Vasyl Yaremenko of the International Academy of Personnel Management. Socialist Party member Mykola Rudkovskyy told UNIAN that the court order was the result of a "political instruction by the presidential administration" aimed at "do[ing] away with the largest Ukrainian opposition newspaper." Rudkovskyy said a group of lawyers is now preparing an appeal against the closure. "Silski visti," which targets primarily rural readers, is widely believed to be linked to the Ukrainian Socialist Party and its leader, Oleksandr Moroz.