Roskomnadzor seeking annulment of licenses of printed, electronic versions of Novaya Gazeta

MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - Russia's telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor has filed lawsuits with the Supreme Court and Moscow's Basmanny District Court seeking an annulment of the registration of a media outlet of both the site and printed version of Novaya Gazeta, as well as of Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta.

"The court has received two lawsuits from Roskomnadzor seeking invalidation of the media licenses of the publishing house Novaya Gazeta and the magazine Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta, founded by the publishing house Novaya Gazeta. A decision on accepting the new lawsuits for consideration is pending," Moscow's Basmanny District Court press secretary Yekaterina Buravtsova told Interfax.

Another lawsuit brought by Roskomnadzor, which concerns the media registration certificate of Novaya Gazeta's site, is in the Russian Supreme Court, and its trial is scheduled for September 15, Novaya Gazeta press secretary Nadezhda Prusenkova told Interfax.

"Roskomnadzor has filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court regarding the media registration certificate of the Novaya Gazeta site, over two written warnings. Roskomnadzor also filed a lawsuit with Moscow's Basmanny District Court seeking invalidation of the registration certificate of the printed version of the paper," Prusenkova said on Thursday.

Roskomnadzor is seeking invalidation of the license of the printed version of Novaya Gazeta, saying the editorial office had not provided to the agency its charter when it was re-registered in 2006, Prusenkova said. "Although the regulation stating that failure to provide a charter is punishable by license revocation only took effect in 2018," Prusenkova said.

Roskomnadzor has confirmed to Interfax that the agency's claim filed with Moscow's Basmanny District Court was filed over the non-provision of the charter. "Roskomnadzor has filed a lawsuit demanding invalidation of the registration of the printed media Novaya Gazeta over the non-provision of the editorial board's charter within the period of time established by the media legislation," Roskomnadzor said in response to the agency's inquiry.

It said the written warnings that were earlier sent to the publishing house Novaya Gazeta had been issued "for materials from the electronic periodical Novaya Gazeta."

The paper's Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Muratov told Interfax the editorial board has weighty arguments to win the case in courts. "Both regarding the reasons why they have now decided to halt our activities for some reason and regarding the paper-based version of the paper, which will be considered in the Basmanny Court, not in the Supreme [Court]," Muratov said.

Novaya Gazeta suspended operations on March 28, having received two written warnings from Roskomnadzor for its failure to label its materials as those of a foreign-agent NGO. The newspaper said it would suspend publication of its materials both online and on paper "until the end of the special operation in Ukraine."