Budapest police have suspended the news portal hirhatter.com. It is edited by journalist Arpad Molnar F., whose stated aim is to “expose state corruption”. The authorities claim that Molnar F. had committed the criminal offence of “displaying banned symbols of tyranny”. Accordingly, the police compelled the web operator to close the portal.
Dmitry Gubin was dismissed from Vesti FM radio station on Friday, after criticising the St Petersburg Governor, Valentina Matviyenko, on his morning show. The station’s general producer has said that he was fired for his “impermissible on-air style”. The offending remarks included his description of St Petersburg as “the hole of a rural loo instead of the window to Europe” and his provocative “Seig Heil, dear Valentina Ivanovna (Matviyenko)”. Unrepentant, he continued to liken Matviyenko to Hitler.
Journalist Ahmet Topcu has been sentenced to 11 months in jail for denouncing a proposal put forward by the Mayor of Rize, in north east Turkey. The mayor, Halil Bakirci, is currently a member of the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP). Topcu had published an article criticising the mayor’s suggestion that “Kurds should have co-wives” and that this would answer the “Kurdish question”. Bakirci was widely condemned at the time and has offered a public apology.
Chief editor Ram Pukar Raut, and editor Pravin Sharma Jha, of the New Times Today have been arrested by police in the Southern Nepalese district of Rautahat. They were charged with having links with a militant underground group, and printing a press release from the group. Sources from the newspaper assert that the arrests were a response to an article in the newspaper alleging that the police had taken bribes from an animal smuggler.