Prosecutor's office to appeal against sentence to Dmitrievskiy, editor of "Pravozaschita" newspaper

The Nizhni Novgorod prosecutor's office states that it is going to appeal against the sentence to Stanislav Dmitrievskiy, chief editor of the "Pravozaschita" newspaper. The "Gazeta.Ru" correspondent reports that the prosecutor's office intends to file an appeal in the course of this week.

The Soviet district court in Nizhni Novgorod found Dmitrievskiy guilty of stirring national hostility and sentenced him to two years of suspended imprisonment with four years of probation. The prosecutor's office which requested four years of imprisonment to be served in a penal colony considers the sentence too lenient. The journalist himself also intends to appeal against the sentence as he considers it "unjust and not based on the law."

The Dmitrievskiy's case is connected with the publication by the "Pravozaschita" newspaper of addresses by Chechen separatist leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Ahmed Zakaev. The publications contained sharp critics of the actions by Russian leadership, Russian armed forces and personally by President Vladimir Putin. The human rights activists believe the charges to Dmitrievskiy to be politically motivated and aimed at liquidation of the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of speech.

Many international human rights organizations expressed their concern about the campaign of pressure pursued by various state agencies with regard to the RChFS, director of which is the convicted human rights activist, while "International Amnesty" announced its intention to consider Dmitrievskiy prisoner of conscience in case he is convicted.