Maria Plieva [Plion]: “It Is Dangerous to Be a Journalist in South Ossetia”

Goga Aptsiauri, Media.ge

Famous Ossetian journalist and blogger Maria Plieva is in Hamburg, Germany now. She was a nominee of the international organization “Reporters without Border “for the Scholarship of the Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted People; she received the scholarship and now she will live and study in Germany for the next one year.

Russian media reported that Maria Plieva requested political shelter abroad; but the journalist said it is disinformation and despite many difficulties she will return to her homeland after a year. Maria had plenty of problems in Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz, where she lived recent years. She openly criticized Kokoity’s government and fought for the protection of human rights. The Vladikavkaz Court continues process on criminal case, which was launched against Plieva for hooliganism.

Media.ge got in touch with Maria Plieva in Germany and interviewed her.

Media.ge – Maria, why did you decide to apply to the Reporters without Borders?

Maria Plieva – I faced serious problems and was intimidated throughout my entire journalistic activities. Besides that, the court proceeding on my case has not finished in Vladikavkaz. They discuss the case for the fourth time already. The law enforcement bodies accused me of hooliganism, allegedly I insulted police officers. So, they can place me in prison for this particular case. The police want me to attend the trial, where they plan to arrest me. Three administrative cases are launched against me but the Judge indicated to me that they want to imprison me for hooliganism. Currently, they are postponing the trials and I do not know how long the process will last. I will not return to Russia to attend their trial. As a result of similar intimidation against me, I applied to the Reporters without Borders and they chose one-year scholarship program for me. It is not immigration, like my opponents claim; it is just scholarship program.

Media.ge – You are speaking about intimidation. What exactly was intimidating you?

Maria Plieva – I have written several blogs about it. I will refrain from naming concrete people but I would say that they were high-ranking officials and members of parliament. They threatened me several times; they threatened my parents with physical assault. I could not go home for a long time because they could arrest me as soon as crossed Russian-South Ossetian border. My relative, who works at the local governmental institution, told me I was on the list of people, who must be arrested at the moment of crossing the border. I received threatening phone-calls. In short, it is very dangerous to be a journalist in South Ossetia.

Media.ge –How do other journalists work there?

Maria Plieva- None of local journalists are independent there. Two months ago, a famous blogger Alan Parastaev was not allowed into the homeland when traveling from Russia. There is no independent media in Tskhinvali. Last October, the only independent newspaper “21st Century” was removed from newspaper booths without any explanations. Nobody clarified the reason to the editor of the newspaper Temur Tskhurbat. So, it is evident that we cannot speak about free media in SO.

Media.ge – How can you explain the oppression on the “21st Century”?

Maria Plieva – The governmental officials told Temur that they did not like the article about cell phone company “Megapon” in his newspaper. The article described how the owners of the company in South Ossetia earned money from roaming service. Former minister of information and communications Giorgi Kabisov is one of the owners of the Cell Phone Company; he participated in the presidential elections. Besides that, anti-Russian interview with Ingush oppositionist Magomed Khazbiev was published in the newspaper and the local government did not like it. The newspaper always criticized local government as well as the authority of the Russian Federation because the money transferred to South Ossetia was laundered and misappropriated.

Media.ge –What do you do in Hamburg?

Maria Plieva – I will learn German. Besides that, I will meet people, who are interested in the political situation in South Ossetia and North Caucasus in general. Recently, I lived in the North Ossetia and I know much about the current situation there. I will continue blogging. I will not write news because I will not be on the place.

Russian edition InoSMI published wrong information about my traveling to Hamburg. My interview was published in the German newspaper VELT and the Russian edition misinterpreted it; according to their version, I had allegedly said that Ossetia was a region of Georgia. In fact, it was the quotation of the interview’s author and the Russian edition published it as my quotation. Users of social networks write that Georgian members of Georgian-Ossetian Forum assisted me to go to Germany but it is not true either. I personally contacted the organization. Many analytics believe that Russian InoSMI is controlled by the Kremlin and they aim to discredit me. People living in similar conditions as I did, really seek political shelters in other countries; but I did not. I do not know what will happen after the one-year scholarship program finishes. The only thing I know is that I have serious problems in the North and South Ossetias.

Maria lives in the suburbs of Hamburg and explores the local life. After plenty of problems and hardship, she thinks she has moved to a different planet where nobody intimidates and watches her and where human rights and freedoms are the most significant values. She is eager to attend the concert of the Rock Group “Rammstein”. Maria is a rock fan; her blog’s name on the Jivoi Jurnal is “Rocks Alana”.