(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, RSF expressed its indignation following the attack against Vassili Silagadze, a journalist with the private weekly “Eko Digest”. “We ask that you take the necessary measures to identify and prosecute the attackers,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. RSF also asked Georgian authorities to be […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, RSF expressed its indignation following the attack against Vassili Silagadze, a journalist with the private weekly “Eko Digest”. “We ask that you take the necessary measures to identify and prosecute the attackers,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. RSF also asked Georgian authorities to be kept informed of the results of the investigation.
According to information collected by RSF, Silagadze was stopped by plain clothes police officers for an identity check on the night of 24 July 2000, while driving his car in Tbilissi. The men, who showed their police identification, recognised the journalist as the author of an article which denounced the “luxurious lifestyle” of certain senior police officials, including the minister of the interior, while other police officers have not been paid in months. Silagadze refused to divulge his sources and was savagely beaten by the three police officers, who lacerated two fingers of his right hand. They added that, as such, “he would be unable to write for a while.” They also warned him to end his activities, “before something really serious happens to him.” The minister of the interior stated that an inquiry would be opened. Security forces under state control will lead the investigation rather than police.
