Murmansk’s city hall apologizes for insulting opposition. Then claims apology was made by hackers.

Murmansk’s city hall has announced that it did not issue an apology for the publication of an article on “fighting pederasts” in municipal newspaper Vecherny Murmansk after a March 26 protest. The administration claims that the mayor’s office website had been “attacked by unknown [hackers]” and that the apology in question could not be considered official.

The apology itself was published on the morning of May 4 (available in cache). The short message read that the mayor’s office, as the founder of local newspaper Vecherny Murmansk, apologized for journalist Dmitry Malyshev’s use of foul language. The mayor’s office also stressed that censorship is prohibited by law and that a newspaper’s founder does not have the right to interfere with editorial policy. Local police have since been asked to look into the claim that the municipal administration’s website had been hacked.

The article titled “Unbearably bored with being correct” was published on March 28 and has since been taken down from the newspaper’s website (available in cache). It used highly offensive words against LGBT activist Violetta Grudina and her supporters. Russia’s telecommunications and mass media watchdog Roskomnadzor has issued a warning to Vecherny Murmansk for its use of foul language.

On March 26, Anti-corruption protests swept nearly one hundred cities across Russia, following the publication of Navalny’s report into Medvedev’s property. Most of the rallies were not pre-approved by city authorities. According to various sources, the protests attracted anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 people. More than a thousand protesters were detained in Moscow alone.