(IPI/IFEX) – In an 18 December 2000 letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, IPI strongly condemned the assault on an investigative reporter in Moscow. According to IPI’s sources, Oleg Luriye, a journalist with the newspaper “Novaïa Gazeta”, was attacked by unknown assailants early in the morning on 17 December. Luriye and his wife were about […]
(IPI/IFEX) – In an 18 December 2000 letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, IPI strongly condemned the assault on an investigative reporter in Moscow.
According to IPI’s sources, Oleg Luriye, a journalist with the newspaper “Novaïa Gazeta”, was attacked by unknown assailants early in the morning on 17 December. Luriye and his wife were about to park their car when five persons approached them. The attackers locked Luriye’s wife in the car and started beating him. Luriye believes the assault was directly connected to his work since he was not robbed of any valuables, even though he offered to hand over money and his mobile phone. Prior to the attack, the journalist had been investigating the recently closed Mabetex case, in which a Swiss company had allegedly bribed senior members of the Yeltsin government. This incident is the latest in a series of disturbing threats and assaults directed at the journalists of “Novaïa Gazeta”.
On 12 May, Igor Domnekov, another journalist with “Novaïa Gazeta”, was attacked in front of the entrance to his apartment building. Suffering from severe head injuries, the journalist never regained consciousness and died on 16 July as a result of his injuries. It is believed that his attackers mistook him for another investigative reporter for “Novaïa Gazeta”, Oleg Sultanov, who lives in the same building (see IFEX alerts of 17 July and 16 May 2000).
Sultanov says that he has been subject to threats from the Federal Security Service for his reporting. “Novaïa Gazeta” has published numerous articles on corruption, implicating people in the security services. Sultanov is now being protected by bodyguards. Aside from its investigative reporting into corruption, “Novaïa Gazeta” has on several occasions criticised the actions of Russian forces in Chechnya.
On 27 April, the magazine received a warning from the Ministry of Information for publishing an interview with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. Furthermore, an editor-in-chief of a local branch of “Novaïa Gazeta”, Yevgeny Rukin, was arrested at the beginning of the year for “abuse of authority”.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– expressing the belief that these incidents are directly related to the reporting undertaken by “Novaïa Gazeta” and its journalists, and thus are outright violations of everyone’s right to “seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
– noting that physical harassment and other measures of intimidation foster a climate in which journalists are more readily inclined to practice self-censorship in order to escape retribution for their reporting
– further noting that this is detrimental to the free flow of ideas and to any democratic society
– urging His Excellency to do everything in his power to ensure the safety of journalists working in Russia, in the light of these worrying developments
– also urging him to ensure that there is a thorough investigation into the assault on Luriye and the other attacks and threats against “Novaïa Gazeta” reporters and that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:HE. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
President
The Kremlin
Moscow, Russia
Fax: + 70 95 206 91 11 / 206 41 68Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
