New Law Blogger: Russian President
Even as a Moscow court ruled last week that Russian officials could shut down websites containing extremist comments, the country’s president, former corporate attorney and law professor Dmitry Medvedev, was launching a new blog.
Hosted by LiveJournal, it calls for a more open society. However, the comments will be monitored by the Kremlin, reports Al Jazeera.
Since it was launched on April 21, the blog has nonetheless attracted some 8,000 comments, many of them critical, reports the Moscow Times today.
Among them was advertising executive Andrei Zubarev, who posted a complaint about conditions at a children’s hospital in the Ryazan region. To his surprise, the president responded within a few days, saying he had asked the governor of Ryazan to look into the issue. Officials soon visited the hospital and the governor has held a press conference.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect anything,” Zubarev told the newspaper yesterday, noting that there were “a lot of comments” competing for Medvedev’s attention.
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com (2008): “Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Plans Judicial Reforms”
Voice of America: “Russian President Starts Blog, Courts Limit Internet Forums”
