**For background information on Fleutiaux’s case, see IFEX alerts of 10 February 2000 and 2 December 1999** (RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: 2 March 2000 Exhibition of photographs by Brice Fleutiaux, held hostage in Chechnya since October 1999 Brice Fleutiaux, an independent French photographer, has been detained in Chechnya since October […]
**For background information on Fleutiaux’s case, see IFEX alerts of 10 February 2000 and 2 December 1999**
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release:
2 March 2000
Exhibition of photographs by Brice Fleutiaux, held hostage in Chechnya since October 1999
Brice Fleutiaux, an independent French photographer, has been detained in Chechnya since October 1999. An exhibition, organised in Paris by his Support Committee, Reporters sans frontières and a group of photographers from Toulouse, is presenting his works from 1 to 31 March at the Maison des Photographes (121, rue Vieille du Temple 75003 Paris – Opening 9 March). The exhibition is being sponsored by the daily Libération, the TF1 television station and Publimod’Photo.
Having left Toulouse on 28 September 1999 for Ankara (Turkey), Brice Fleutiaux went on to Chechnya on the morning of 1 October and tried to get in touch with the Chechen presidency in Grozny. He has not been heard from since that same afternoon. The photographer appears to have been kidnapped by armed bands, which operate in the region. At the moment, he is allegedly being held in the south of the independence seeking republic, close to the Georgian border, which is a region where violent battles between Chechen rebels and Federal forces are currently taking place.
The photographer indicated that he had entered Chechnya “in order to work,” in a text accompanied by a videotape which was made public by Russian Security Services on 31 October 1999. He wrote: “I find myself in a cellar with no light, electricity or windows. My jailers arrive at any hour and beat me with their weapons. I have been sick for the past week. The conditions are unbearable…Do something quickly.”
Since the videotape’s release, three messages have reached Brice Fleutiaux’s family via the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Quai d’Orsay). These include two hand-written notes, dated 26 November 1999 and 19 January 2000, respectively, mentioning that he is alive and hopes to be released shortly. Meanwhile, a second videotape, dated mid-December, was sent to French Security Services. According to this tape, the photographer’s conditions in detention and health have improved. Moreover, exiled Chechen leaders have stated that in late January, the photographer had been “released”, but had been unable to leave Chechnya because of the fighting. His family has had no new information since then and have been awaiting and working towards his release.
Born in Toulouse in 1967, Brice Fleutiaux began his career as a photographer in Cambodia, during the final withdrawal of Vietnamese troops in September 1989. Subsequently, he reported from India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. He also covered the armed conflicts which tore apart the former Yugoslavia. Based in Bangkok from 1990 to 1992, he worked with the Reuters press agency; his images have been published by the Cosmos, Vu and Sipa agencies. He then lived in Romania for three years, where he notably participated in the creation of a newspaper. Brice Fleutiaux and his wife Dana, whom he met in Timisoara, have a four year old daughter named Sarah.
A petition calling for Brice Fleutiaux’s release can be found on the websites of Reporters sans frontières (www.rsf.fr) and the photographer’s Support Committee (http://fleutiaux.brice.free.fr).
