the latest re Sorokin

[Helena Goscilo]

According to NPR, Sorokin has been arrested.
Helena Goscilo


> Dear colleagues,
> FYI.
>
> VC
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2002 15:22:04 -0000
> From: RFE/RL List Manager <listmanager at list.rferl.org>
> Subject: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 129, Part I, 12 July 2002
>
> RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
> ___________________________________________________________
> RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 6, No. 129, Part I, 12 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.
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>
> RUSSIA
>
> [...]
>
> CULTURE MINISTRY SPEAKS OUT AGAINST SOROKIN INVESTIGATION... The criminal
> case against avant-garde writer Vladimir Sorokin launched by Moscow
> prosecutors on 11 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 July 2002) received a
> great deal of public criticism that day. Prosecutors allege that Sorokin's
> novel "Goluboye Salo" ("Blue Lard") is pornographic. According to an
> official statement by the Culture Ministry's press office, that ministry
> considers the decision to open the case "erroneous, ungrounded, and a
> violation of a citizen's constitutional rights," RIA-Novosti reported.
> "Russian history shows that criminal cases against writers Andrei
> Sinyavskii, Yulii Daniel, and Aleksandr Ginzburg have only discredited the
> ideas of personal freedom and freedom of speech," the statement went on to
> say, according to ITAR-TASS. MD
>
> ...AS WALKING TOGETHER LEADER JUSTIFIES THE ACCUSATIONS... Aleksei Volin,
> deputy chief of the government staff, also criticized the action, saying
> that it "elicits a mixed feeling of despondency and amazement," according
> to Interfax. Sorokin himself denied the allegations and said that his
> novel "contained only two sexual scenes and was written about the death of
> Russian literature." "Goluboye Salo" was published over three years ago,
> but the investigation began only now at the initiative of the pro-Putin
> youth movement Walking Together. In an interview with RFE/RL's Moscow
> bureau broadcast on 10 July, the leader of movement, Vasilii Yakimenko,
> said the group is trying to "transfer Sorokin into the marginal
> [category]" and prove that "Sorokin's publications are not books in the
> classical meaning of the word." MD
>
> ...AND PROSECUTOR FILES CHARGES. Meanwhile, prosecutors completed their
> evaluation of the novel on 11 July and determined that it is indeed
> pornographic, Reuters and Western news agencies reported. Formal charges
> against Sorokin were filed the same day. Moscow prosecutor Mikhail
> Avdyukov rejected criticism of the investigation. "In deciding whether or
> not to initiate a criminal case, law enforcement agencies cannot be guided
> by any one person's aesthetic tastes. We act strictly within the framework
> of the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code," he said in an
> interview with Interfax on 11 July. "Let me assure you that this
> assessment will not depend on the personal aesthetic preferences of
> officials," he said before the assessment was completed. MD/RC
>
> [...]
>
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