Russian deputies have refused to hold an emergency debate on the change of management at the beleaguered independent television station NTV imposed by the state-controlled gas giant Gazprom.
The State Duma (lower house) voted by 193 to 108 to reject a proposal by Yabloko party leader Mr Grigory Yavlinsky to add the issue to the day's agenda despite his argument that it was "of great political importance."
Parliament "has denied the electorate the right to get information freely," Mr Yavlinsky charged as Gazprom prepared to take over Russia's only independent nationwide television station.
"The attitude of the majority of the Duma, notably the Communists and the pro-Kremlin factions, proves that the authorities have chosen definitively not to defend the rights and freedoms of citizens," he added.
Mr Yavlinsky said he doubted the "legal validity of the change of management," voted yesterday at a board meeting dominated by Gazprom shareholders.
Journalists at the television station have also disputed the legality of the move, seen as a manoeuvre to stifle one of the Kremlin's most vocal critics.
A 19 percent package of shares held by NTV owner Mr Vladimir Gusinsky is currently frozen by order of the legal authorities.
US financier Mr Boris Jordan, who was a central figure in the controversial privatisations of the mid-1990s, was named as NTV director. Mr Alfred Kokh, a former privatisation minister who heads Gazprom's media arm, was appointed as chairman of the nine-member NTV board.
AFP