Yabloko Official Says TV-6 Closure Leads To State Monopoly On Electronic Media

State Duma Deputy Sergey Mitrokhin, who is also deputy chairman of the Russian Democratic Party Yabloko, believes that the liquidation of TV-6 will establish a state monopoly on the electronic media, which will be a 20-year pullback for Russia. He said in an interview with RBC that the hastiness, with which the liquidation decision had been made by the court, "proved fears that the Russian judicial system became a tool for political persecution." Mitrokhin maintains that today's ruling on TV-6 can be put in one row with "the last year's wipeout of NTV and the recent draconic verdict against Grigoriy Pasko." "I think that in all these cases courts ignored the constitutional right of citizens to freely receive and disseminate information," he added.