Jewish Telegraphic Agency - 02.21.2006

New cartoon controversy strikes Russia

(JTA) -- Russian human rights activists criticized the decision of authorities to close down a newspaper that published a controversial cartoon of religious leaders. 

The Moscow Bureau on Human Rights said the decision to shut down the Gorodskie Vesti newspaper in the southern city of Volgograd was a show of “incompetence” and epitomized the inability of local officials to deal with interfaith issues. 

Last Friday, city authorities in Volgograd annulled the license of Gorodskie Vesti, which published a cartoon depicting Jesus, Moses, Buddha and Mohammed in front of a television showing two groups of people about to start a fight. The caption read: “We did not teach them to do that.” 

The decision to shut down the paper came despite the fact that no local religious community in Volgograd said it was offended by the cartoon. The officials stated the closure of the city-owned paper was needed to avoid “incitement of ethnic hostilities.”

See also:

"Cartoon Scandal" Raises Anti-Semitism
Putin Condemns Caricatures