The leader of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma, Grigory Yavlinsky, thinks that millions of signatures may be collected in defence of the freedom of speech and NTV. He made this statement on Monday April 9, 2001 at the House of Journalists in Moscow, where the collection of signatures began.

According to Yavlinsky, these signatures may become “a convincing argument in favour of justice and a fair court ruling”. He added: “What NTV is trying to achieve is not a violation of the law, butinstead a demand that the law be implemented.” “Unfortunately the situation has now developed where only by joining forces the citizens can demand a fair court resolution of the problem. That is why we are collecting the signatures now,” noted Yavlinsky.

The leader of the Yabloko faction also said that ten years ago such meetings gathered to change the Constitution of the country. “And now such meetings are required to make the district court of Cheryomushki (Ed. court of the first instance of a district in Moscow) review only one application. This isa big difference,” concluded Yavlinsky.

See also:

NTV Case