Yakov Samokhin and Eleonora Solomennikova believe the incident was a warning for them to stop reporting on environmentally and politically sensitive topics.
(CJES/IFEX) – The house of prominent Novosibirsk-based journalists Yakov Samokhin and Eleonora Solomennikova, who head the publishing house Sibninform, was broken into. The journalists link this incident to their professional activities and active participation in the city’s public life. The police have refused to open a criminal case, Samokhin told Taiga.info on 6 December 2011.
The unknown criminals killed the journalists’ dog and opened the garage, which leads to the house, on 1 December, Samokhin said, adding that nothing was stolen from the house.
Samokhin believes the incident may have been an attempt to kill Solomennikova, who was expected to be at home on the day of the crime, but had to leave for the office, or a threat and intimidation. “The criminals poisoned our dog and got into the house, without taking anything. They clearly demonstrated that they could get to us easily,” Samokhin said.
Solomennikova has been working on a journalistic investigation into the logging of the Novosibirsk Zaeltsevsky Forest and the reclassification of land sites, which takes construction on these sites from under state and public control.
Solomennikova and Samokhin have recently published a number of sharply worded articles which they believe could have irritated some Novosibirsk companies and private individuals.
