British media group says Russia police raid office
21 Feb 2007 17:44:33 GMT Source: Reuters
By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian police raided the offices of a British organisation that supports journalists in war zones on Wednesday as part of a probe into alleged financial irregularities, its director said. Police searched the Institute of War and Peace Reporting's (IWRP) office in Vladikavkaz in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region before confiscating two computers and documents, Tony Borden, the group's executive director said in a statement. "We are shocked and surprised by this development and we give our full support to our coordinator Valery Dzutsev, who has acted completely honestly within Russian law," Borden said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has tightened rules for non-governmental organisations. Top Russian officials say NGOs have being used by foreign spies as cover. IWPR is a non-governmental organisation which seeks to support objective journalism in some of the world's most hostile regions, from Iraq to the Caucasus and Afghanistan. Dzutsev told Reuters separately by telephone that the authorities had opened a criminal case against him for tax evasion although he had already paid back taxes and a fine. "I consider myself innocent," he said. "It seems to me that they simply want to find something against me." "Our organisation is practically the only organisation of its kind in the North Caucasus that seeks to foster independent journalism which is often not welcomed by certain people." Dzutsev made his name reporting on the 2004 Beslan school siege, where more than 330 people died, many in a chaotic Russian rescue operation, Borden said. The IWPR has previously encountered problems in Russia. British journalist Thomas de Waal, who heads the IWPR's Caucasus operations, was refused a visa to Russia last year and has still not received the permit.
