(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has just learned that on 10 June 1998, Robert Friedman, a freelance journalist specialising in organised crime in Russia and who lives in New York, was warned by an officer from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that there was a contract on his life. The journalist suspects that a Russian citizen […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has just learned that on 10 June 1998, Robert Friedman,
a freelance journalist specialising in organised crime in Russia and who
lives in New York, was warned by an officer from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) that there was a contract on his life. The
journalist suspects that a Russian citizen based in Budapest and
involved in various forms of trafficking was behind the threat. The FBI
said it could not guarantee his safety and advised him to “lay low.”
In April 1998, Friedman had received a letter threatening to kill him.
It was signed by Vyacheslav Ivankov, a notorious godfather of the
Russian mafia in the USA, imprisoned since 1996 for extortion. The
letter was sent from Ray Brook Prison, New York state, where Ivankov is
serving a nine-year sentence. Several reports by Friedman dealing with
the activities of the Russian mafia abroad, particularly in the USA and
Europe, had been published by magazines such as “Vanity Fair”,
“Details”, and “The Village Voice”. The journalist had exposed the
involvement of the Russian mafia in the National Hockey League and was
about to publish a book entitled “The Red Mafia”.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Attorney General:
his work as a journalist
killed in Russia for practicing their profession freely, the most
dangerous subjects being organised crime and ties between criminals and
the government.
Appeals To
The Honorable Janet Reno
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 4545
Washington, D.C. 205300001
Fax: +1 202 514 4371
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
