(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on the Russian authorities to make every effort to locate a reporter for the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) who was kidnapped in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. The organisation urged the authorities to thoroughly investigate his disappearance. On 4 July 2003, Chechen journalist Ali Astamirov was accosted by […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on the Russian authorities to make every effort to locate a reporter for the French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) who was kidnapped in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. The organisation urged the authorities to thoroughly investigate his disappearance.
On 4 July 2003, Chechen journalist Ali Astamirov was accosted by three armed men, two of whom were wearing masks, in the town of Nazran. The unknown individuals threatened him with a gun and bundled him into a white car without a licence plate, according to Aslan Dadayev. Dadayev works for the Reuters news agency and the United States-funded Radio Liberty. He witnessed Astamirov’s abduction.
“This region has always been a dangerous one for journalists and several have previously been kidnapped by armed men,” noted RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. On 6 July, the Prosecutor’s Office in Nazran announced it had launched an investigation.
Astamirov has worked for AFP for more than a year, covering Ingushetia and Chechya. He had received several anonymous threatening phone calls in recent months.
