Rosbalt says court ruling annulling its registration sets precedent
MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) - Natalya Afonina, general director of the information agency Rosbalt, has called the court ruling revoking the agency's registration certificate an encroachment on freedom of the media and said the agency will work until the court ruling takes legal force.
"We will work for a period of one month and we will, of course, file an appeal against the Moscow City Court ruling in the Supreme Court," Afonina told Interfax.
Afonina said the judge who made the decision to revoke the agency's registration certificate "did not take into consideration any of the arguments given by Rosbalt, event the procedural one."
"Specifically, our request for the trial to be postponed was not considered, although we had grounds for such a request," she said.
"Today's decision is an encroachment on freedom of the media," she said.
"Our case sets a precedent (although Russian law is not law of practice), and if we can be closed just by signing one document, it means others can be treated the same way," Afonina said, calling the Moscow City Court decision "totally unlawful."
Afonina said the Moscow City Court "has only heeded the opinion of Roskomnadzor."
The Moscow City Court on Thursday invalidated the registration certificate of the information agency Rosbalt, granting Roskomnadzor's request. Roskomnadzor had asked the court to invalidate Rosbalt' registration certificate due to numerous violations of Article 16 of the law on the mass media (the publication of materials containing foul language).