(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly alarmed by the kidnapping of Said Akhmedovich Isayev, the sole correspondent in Grozny, Chechnya, for the Russian Itar-Tass news agency. **Updates IFEX alert of 30 March 1999** Late in the evening of 28 March 1999, a few unidentified, armed men broke into Isayev’s house in Grozny, and abducted him. On […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly alarmed by the kidnapping of Said Akhmedovich
Isayev, the sole correspondent in Grozny, Chechnya, for the Russian
Itar-Tass news agency.
**Updates IFEX alert of 30 March 1999**
Late in the evening of 28 March 1999, a few unidentified, armed men broke
into Isayev’s house in Grozny, and abducted him. On 30 March, the Chechen
Republic’s Minister of the Interior, Turpal Atgeriev, announced that the
government had no knowledge of the whereabouts or the fate of the journalist
or the identity of his abductors. The head of Itar-Tass, Vitaly Ignatienko,
sent an official note to President Maskhadov asking for cooperation and
support in the search of the missing reporter.
The thirty-eight-year-old Isayev had previously worked as a freelance
correspondent for
Itar-Tass. Days before the kidnapping, he was promoted to staff
correspondent. According to his colleagues, Isayev’s balanced and detailed
coverage of the political situation in Chechnya might have angered some
Chechen politicians. His colleagues believe that Isayev’s appointment as a
full-time Itar-Tass corespondent and his objective news coverage from the
region were the reasons for his kidnapping. They have not excluded the
possibility that the kidnappers would demand a huge ransom to release
Isayev, as was the case in the 1997 kidnappings of prominent foreign
correspondents in Chechnya.
CPJ condemns Isayev’s kidnapping and is greatly alarmed that Isayev was
singled out in retaliation for his work as a journalist. CPJ fears that
Isayev’s abduction may signal a return to the vicious practice of kidnapping
journalists in Chechnya, a form of terrorism that has impeded objective
coverage of the country’s troubled political situation and placed Chechnya
among the most dangerous places for reporters.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
and
immediate release of Isayev
kidnapping,
thereby demonstrating their commitment to ensuring that journalists can
safely practice their profession in Chechnya
Appeals To
His Excellency Aslan Maskhadov
President of the Republic of Chechnya
Grozny, Chechen Republic
Fax: +7 095 913 7777His Excellency Boris Yeltsin
President of the Russian Federation
Moscow, Russia
Fax: +7 095 206 5173 / 206 6277
E-mail: president@gov.ru
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
