Waynakh Online

Top Menu

  • Archive Documents
  • Bookshelf
  • Chechen Culture
  • ECHR Cases
  • Gallery
  • Lyrics
  • Mp3
  • Poems
  • Videos

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Chechens
    • Who are the Chechens?
    • Tribal Unions and Clans
    • Religion
    • Famous Chechens
      • Chechen Academicians
      • Chechen Commanders
      • Chechen Litterateures
      • Chechen Musicians
      • Chechen Painters
      • Chechen Politicians
      • Chechen Presidents
      • Chechen Sports Men/Women
      • Names from Chechen History
  • Chechnya
    • Administrative Divisions
    • Maps
    • Geography
    • Constitution
    • Flag, Emblem and Anthem
    • Parliament
    • Presidents
    • Demographics
    • Economy
    • Human Rights Violations
    • Refugees
    • History
  • Chechen Language
    • Chechen Alphabet
    • Fairy Tales in Chechen Language (Mp3)
  • News
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Contact
  • Archive Documents
  • Bookshelf
  • Chechen Culture
  • ECHR Cases
  • Gallery
  • Lyrics
  • Mp3
  • Poems
  • Videos

logo

Waynakh Online

  • Home
  • Chechens
    • Who are the Chechens?
    • Tribal Unions and Clans
    • Religion
    • Famous Chechens
      • Chechen Academicians
      • Chechen Commanders
      • Chechen Litterateures
      • Chechen Musicians
      • Chechen Painters
      • Chechen Politicians
      • Chechen Presidents
      • Chechen Sports Men/Women
      • Names from Chechen History
  • Chechnya
    • Administrative Divisions
    • Maps
    • Geography
    • Constitution
    • Flag, Emblem and Anthem
    • Parliament
    • Presidents
    • Demographics
    • Economy
    • Human Rights Violations
    • Refugees
    • History
  • Chechen Language
    • Chechen Alphabet
    • Fairy Tales in Chechen Language (Mp3)
  • News
  • Articles
  • Interviews
  • Contact
Articles
Home›Articles›Censorship in the Caucasus: Mikael Storsjo Hosts the Kavkaz Center

Censorship in the Caucasus: Mikael Storsjo Hosts the Kavkaz Center

By admin
October 30, 2010
894
2
Share:

Mikael Storsjo, a prominent Swedish journalist who currently lives in Finland, is the founder of the Finnish-Chechen Association, a human rights organization that advocates for refugees and asylum-seekers from the North Caucasus.

He is also involved with another group, the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, which organizes conferences for civil and human rights activists from all parts of Russia.

Storsjo’s office and home are often crowded with people from the Caucasus region. Some of them are refugees whom Storsjo and his wife Agnetta are sheltering. The couple holds frequent Caucasus-style parties with dozens of guests who fill their small house with noisy chatter and the smells of spiced food typical of a village in Chechnya. The women cook galnish – a special dish prepared with meat and flour, the most famous dish in Chechnya. The men do not enter the kitchen; they gather in the dining room around huge table piled high with fruits and other appetizers and talk about politics. Some of them have been living in exile since the first Russian-Chechen war more than 10 years ago. Others have just arrived. None of them can return home. This is because they (or their relatives) fought against the Russians to free Chechnya. They know that this will be not forgotten or forgiven. One unusual characteristic of these gatherings: people never laugh.

Involvement with the Chechens can sometimes bring trouble for Storsjo. In 2009 Finnish police filed a criminal case against him for harboring illegal immigrants. Storsjo says he is confident the case will be dropped because Finnish law allows citizens to help people living in inhuman conditions.

“Those whom I brought here definitely lived in inhuman conditions and many of them would be indeed dead by now if I did not help them to escape,” he said.

“I read the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s novel ‘Hadji Murat’ when I was a child. The story of a free people of the Caucasus made such a deep impression on me that since then I always was interested in the situation there, eager to get to know people and traditions.”

One of Storsjo’s main interests is Internet freedom. He is a deputy chairman of the Electronic Frontier Finland – a sister organization of the international network founded in the US. Through this group, he has been able to provide web hosting and support for the Kavkaz Center, one of the most controversial internet news agencies covering the North Caucasus. The site describes itself as an independent Islamic news agency. It reports mainly on the events in Chechnya and around the Caucasus. Views and opinions expressed on the site and in Kavkaz Center’s publications are usually very critical of the Russian government.

The Kavkaz Center provides its visitors with news from the rebel side. It also posts video statements made by the leaders of mudjahedeen. Many of these statements are declarations of jihad–holy war–against Russia. Others take responsibility for the numerous bombings in different cities of Russia that have claimed dozens of civilian victims. The Center’s archives are full of gruesome pictures and videos of crimes allegedly committed by Russian federal forces.

Moscow considers the Kavkaz Center to be a terrorist propaganda website. There have been numerous attempts by Russian officials and security services to close it down. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent notes of protest to the governments of 11 countries where the Kavkaz Center’s domain has been registered.

Despite the controversial and provocative nature of the Kavkaz Center, Storsjo says the internet must remain free, especially in the troubled areas where violence is the government’s common tool.

“The fact that the Russian Government does not like the website means that we do something right. We are an independent media and we don’t expect to be pleasant for the regime that commits such massive crimes against its own people,” he said.

Storsjo believes he has been targeted by the FSB, the Russian secret service, which considers him an enemy for supporting North Caucasus separatists.

“I know they are watching my every step. And they will not hesitate to kill me when ordered. I am trying to be careful, which doesn’t mean that I will give up the Kavkaz Center or the Finnish-Chechen Association. I am confident in what I do,” he said.

According to Storsjo, providing a platform for controversial opinions means supporting press freedom. With much of the mainstream media controlled either by commercial interests or the government, he believes that the Internet must be free of censorship so that it can remain a platform for the presentation of real life in real time.

28 October 2010 – Pulitzer Center
Fatima Tlisova

*This post is part of a series of reports from Fatima Tlisova’s project on the brutal censorship of journalists in the North Caucasus, that is name “Journalism and Censorship in Caucaus: Revisiting Stories Never Told“, published in advance of her upcoming feature story in the fall issue of the Nieman Reports.

TagsFatima TlisovaMikael Storsjö
Previous Article

Appeal to Slovakian Authorities

Next Article

Puppet Regime has not Paid Workers

Share:

Related articles More from author

  • News

    Court Exonerates Finnish Rights Defender

    May 10, 2011
    By admin
  • News

    Trial Against Finnish Human Rights Advocate Begins

    February 26, 2011
    By admin
  • News

    Clarification on Juha Molari’s Statement about Waynakh Online

    February 28, 2011
    By admin
  • News

    Statement of the Global Chechen Assembly

    October 25, 2010
    By admin
  • News

    Photo Exhibit Shows Grim Face of War

    January 2, 2011
    By admin
  • News

    Agenda of Finland: Chechen Refugees!

    June 10, 2009
    By admin

2 comments

  1. wordord 31 October, 2010 at 03:25

    It’s good that you draw a portrait of Mikael Storsjö, who is a good person, always striving to do the right thing. But please: he is definitely NOT “a … Swedish journalist who currently lives in Finland” – he is a Fenno-Swede, i.e. a Swedish-speaking person in Finland, a Finn beloning to the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. Fenno-Swedes are NOT Swedes, we are Finns, we have a Finnish identity, we live in Finland and we cherish Finland as our Mother-/Fatherland. Sweden is as distant to us as great Britain to Americans. Please don’t deprive us of our national identity!

  2. Erle 2 November, 2010 at 20:35

    God Bless you both Micael and Agneta, we are very proud of you!!!

Leave a reply

  • News

    A Young Man was Kidnapped in Ingushetia

  • News

    Trial of Umar Israilov’s Accused Murderers Continues

  • Lyrics

    Xastam Šuna, Nax! – Ali Dimaev

Our Website in Other Languages

                        

Latest Comments

  • Mustafa
    on
    January 30, 2022
    As salam alaikum im from sesinoy we are chechens from turkey can anyone help to find ...

    Tribal Unions and Clans

  • Tumisha
    on
    October 6, 2021
    I'd love to know what my name means...

    Chechen Women Names

  • Zelim
    on
    July 17, 2021
    İm from Turkoy tayp . Turkoy tayp is not racially turk . Our Grandfathers moved to ...

    Tribal Unions and Clans

  • Anter Johnson
    on
    December 10, 2020
    Does anyone have the lyrics in english by any chance, I want to translate this song ...

    Iordanex Oylanaš – Ali Dimaev

  • Noxchi9595
    on
    October 8, 2020
    Yes, it does. Look under Noxcmaxkaxoy number 23. There you have Yeg1ashbatoy

    Tribal Unions and Clans

Find us on Facebook

Categories

Archives

Search

https://youtu.be/LRtf8UENmp8
https://youtu.be/0yiOJCJWZjU
https://youtu.be/o5oU3dXxgSU
https://youtu.be/iDCpqn62bVQ
https://youtu.be/eBaatZVQpQw
https://youtu.be/Ukk7OkjTlOk
https://youtu.be/rBzKuDNnidM
https://youtu.be/4OON0mwLMfM
https://youtu.be/A7YLIm2YC-Y
https://youtu.be/oiymVOUdIxk

Our Partners

Chechenpress
Khaaman
Ichkeria Culture Center in Austria
Qaanuoyn Dosh
World Chechnya Day
Justice for Medet Önlü

Honorary Consulate of the ChRI in Turkey

We are at Instagram

Waynakh Online

Independent Chechen website that publishes news, articles, interviews, historical documents, literary works, photographs, music and videos.


                        

Last Publications

  • March 16, 2020

    Prime Minister Zakayev’s Book Presented in London

  • February 3, 2020

    European Parliament Hosts a Conference Dedicated to Chechnya

  • October 19, 2019

    Akhmed Zakayev’s Book Presented in the House of Commons

  • August 11, 2019

    Subjugate or Exterminate!

  • August 11, 2019

    Chechnya: The Inside Story

Most commented

  • Gallery

    Gallery of Abed Arslan

    By admin
    September 14, 2009
    10
  • Articles

    Gakayev, The Enemy Kadyrov Needs

    By admin
    August 31, 2012
    9
  • Articles

    Sex Slavery and Death Await Women Seized by Kadyrov’s Bandits

    By admin
    August 16, 2011
    8
  • Famous Chechens

    Shamil Salmanovich Basayev

    By admin
    May 18, 2008
    6
  • Home
  • Contact
2000-2022 © Waynakh Online | Powered by Chechen Media