The steep turns of the Russian justice

Yury Spirin, a correspondent for the Russian newspaper Izvestia was summoned for an interrogation.  The journalist’s  questioning is connected  with Sergey Kukura's kidnapping – the first vice president of the Russian oil giant LUKOIL. Yury Spirin published exclusive materials that were connected with the incident. When  Spirin left the police station, he actually became an accomplice of Kukura’s kidnapping.

The newspaper Izvestia published an article by Yury Spirin yesterday. The article was devoted to previously unknown details of  Sergey Kukura’s disappearance and to the investigation of the matter. The reaction from Russia’s law-enforcement bodies was immediate. They all started rejecting that information with the help of mass media. Furthermore, the author of the article was summoned to go to the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Moscow region to be questioned.

The police were really interested in a person, who informed the journalist on the process of the investigation. The article referred to a member of the investigation group.  The police wanted to know, who that person was. Yuri Spirin was fulfilling his professional duty, when he was working on his article, whereas the unknown police officer transgressed the secret of the investigation.

However, Yury Spirin refused to answer any questions. There was no lawyer with him. Russian laws are on the side of a questioned person in this case. Moreover,  a Russian journalist  is entitled not to open information sources until a court rules so. Yet, the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Moscow region warned Spirin that he would be charged with assistance in the kidnapping in case of silence. Why would prosecutors make such a warning to a journalist?

It is worth mentioning here that the oil company LUKOIL is actually a co-owner of the Izvestia. The company also announced a reward of one million dollars for  any information about the kidnapping of its first vice president. Nevertheless,  LUKOIL preferred to hand the journalist over to the hands of the Moscow regional police.

There can be two clear conclusions made in this respect.  First of all, the investigation is completely at a loss. None of their versions can explain, what really happened.  Secondly,  none of any members of the investigation group will  say a word to any journalist. It is too dangerous.  Therefore,  we are not likely to know the truth. This propaganda technology  is called informational blockade.

Dmitry Slobodanuk
PRAVDA.Ru