Russian bloggers protest by re-publishing blacked-out Adagamov post
MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax) - Russian high-profile bloggers, including opposition activist Alexei Navalny, have republished on their blogs a post by blogger Rustem Adagamov, a member of the Opposition Coordination Council and the central figure in a current sex scandal, in protest against its blacking out by Russia's media watchdog.
Adagamov's post, a report from India - text and photos - about a self-immolation attempt by a Tibetan Independence Movement activist, was qualified by the Roskomnadzor watchdog as an act of propaganda of suicide.
On Friday, the report appeared on the LiveJournal blogs of Navalny and journalists Alexander Plyushchev and Vladimir Varfolomeyev, and by other LiveJournal users.
Plyushchev and Varfolomeyev labeled their re-posting of the report as an "Action against Censorship on the Internet" and said one had to be "ill" to see it as suicide propaganda.
"I write this post purely as an experiment to check whether there will be a demand for blocking it as well," said Navalny in a postscript to Adagamov's report.
"They are terrifying photographs, it's no enjoyment to see them. One can question the ethical aspect of publishing such images, but one has to be ill to see propaganda of suicide behind them," the bloggers said.
A Roskomnadzor spokesman claimed that blocking access to the report had nothing to do with the scandal in which Adagamov has been accused of forcing an underage girl into sex with him.
