(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly alarmed by the recent arrest and detention of Andrei Babitsky, a ten year veteran reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Russia. Babitsky had been covering the conflict in Chechnya from the capital city of Grozny, until his disappearance on 15 January 2000. Despite initial claims denying any knowledge of […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly alarmed by the recent arrest and detention of Andrei Babitsky, a ten year veteran reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Russia.
Babitsky had been covering the conflict in Chechnya from the capital city of Grozny, until his disappearance on 15 January 2000. Despite initial claims denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, a spokesman for the Russian government acknowledged on 28 January that Babitsky was being held in Chechnya by Russian authorities because he did not have proper accreditation to report from the war zone. At the same time, the Russian government has yet to confirm or deny charges published by the Russian news agency Interfax that Babitsky was arrested for “participating in an armed group.”
CPJ believes it is no coincidence that Babitsky’s arrest follows his 13 January report of heavy civilian casualties resulting from increased Russian bombings in Grozny. Over the past month Babitsky has been the target of increased harassment by Russian authorities, reported to be angered by this critical coverage of the conflict. On 8 January, members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) raided Babitsky’s apartment and confiscated film alleged to contain pictures of dead Russian soldiers in Chechnya. On 27 December 1999, the Russian Information Center accused Babitsky of “conspiring with Chechen rebels” after he broadcast a 26 December report critical of the Russian government’s position in Chechnya.
The Russian government has also retaliated against the independent NTV Russian television network for its reports challenging official figures of Russian military casualties. On 23 January, the Russian military told NTV it was excluding its reporters and crews from media pools traveling with military escorts to Russian positions in the field.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the acting president:
- strongly protesting the arrest and detention of Babitsky for practicing his profession
- noting that the continued attempts by his government to deny accreditation to journalists and to later use this as a pretext to detain them constitutes a transparent attempt to stifle media coverage from Chechnya
- further noting that the case against Babitsky clearly violates his right “to seek and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,” as expressed in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- stating that while you are encouraged by the decision to send a Russian prosecutor to meet with
Babitsky and investigate this case, you urge the Russian government to immediately drop all
charges against him and halt efforts to limit the ability of all journalists to report effectively on the Chechen conflict
Appeals To
Vladimir Putin
Acting President of the Russian Federation
Fax: + 7 095 206 5173 / 206 6277
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
