(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 13 March 1998, Timur Kukuyev and Yuri Safronov, members of a film crew for the local M-5 television station and stringers for the Russian public television company ORT in Makhachkala, Dagestan, were beaten by a group of men dressed in paramilitary uniforms as they tried to film at the […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 13 March 1998, Timur Kukuyev and Yuri
Safronov, members of a film crew for the local M-5 television station and
stringers for the Russian public television company ORT in Makhachkala,
Dagestan, were beaten by a group of men dressed in paramilitary uniforms as
they tried to film at the Daghestani-Chechen border. Their attackers
destroyed the crew’s video camera and confiscated their
videotapes. The crew members were not seriously injured, but they were
shocked
that the Daghestani border guards who witnessed the incident failed to
intervene.
On the early evening of 16 March 1998, Kukuyev, the cameraman, was severely
beaten in
central Makhachkala by unidentified men who warned him against “filming
anything
else on a foreign territory in the future” as they assaulted him. He was
admitted to a hospital with broken ribs, a concussion, and a badly
disfigured face.
CPJ notes that failure to bring those responsible for these attacks to
justice will send
a signal to all enemies of media freedom in the Russian Federation that they
may act with impunity. The Russian government is obligated by its
international commitments and federal constitution to protect press freedom
and ensure that journalists may freely and safely pursue their profession.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
Daghestani border guards to protect the television crew, and swiftly bring
those responsible to justice
Appeals To
President Boris Yeltsin
The Kremlin
Moscow, Russian Federation
Fax: +7 095 206 5173; 206-6277
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
