troubling news from Russia (RFE/RL NEWS, 11 July 2002) (fwd)

[Vitaly Chernetsky]

Dear colleagues,
I thought this warranted the attention of our profession.

Sincerely,
VC

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 15:55:06 -0000
From: RFE/RL List Manager <listmanager at list.rferl.org>
Subject: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 128, Part I, 11 July 2002

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
___________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 128, Part I, 11 July 2002

A daily report of developments in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia,
the Caucasus, and Central Asia prepared by the staff of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty.

This is Part I, a compilation of news concerning Russia, Transcaucasus,
and Central Asia. Part II covers Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe
and is distributed simultaneously as a second document.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[...]

RUSSIA

[...]

PUTIN LOYALISTS GO AFTER AVANT-GARDE WRITER. Novelist Vladimir Sorokin is
being investigated by Moscow prosecutors who are looking into whether his
1999 novel "Goluboye Salo" ("Blue Lard") is pornographic, Russian and
Western news agencies reported on 11 July. Svetlana Petrenko, an aide to
the city's chief prosecutor, told AP that the probe was launched in
response to a complaint by the pro-Putin youth group Moving Together,
which particularly objected to a sexual scene in the novel involving
former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. Petrenko also
said that prosecutors are investigating the book's publishers and
distributors. Last month, Moving Together staged a protest in Moscow at
which members tore up copies of the book and threw them into a giant mock
toilet bowl. "This may generate a trend that would signal a cleansing in
literature and culture as a whole," the 47-year-old Sorokin said,
according to Interfax. The news agency also quoted Human Rights Ombudsman
Oleg Mironov as saying, "Writers should speak of the reasonable and the
eternal instead of cursing and describing improper scenes." If convicted
of disseminating pornography, Sorokin could be sentenced to up to two
years in prison, AP reported. RC

[...]

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