Russia

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has just learned that on 10 June 1998, Robert Friedman, a freelance journalist specialising in organised crime in Russia and who lives in New York, was warned by an officer from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that there was a contract on his life. The journalist suspects that a Russian citizen […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting against the removal of defence lawyer Karen Narcissiane from the case against Russian journalist Grigory Pasko by the Vladivostok military court. **Updates IFEX alerts of 14 October, 21 May and 11 May 1998** According to RSF’s information, when Pasko’s trial reopened on 16 February 1999, Narcissiane, who had been representing […]

(GDF/IFEX) – The following is a GDF press release: Moscow, February 15, 1999 Press Release Scandal at Russian state-run TV On February 12, 1999, the debarring of broadcaster Mikhail Ponomarev, political observer of the Russian TV state-run channel and announcer of the evening news program “Vesti”, became known. The leadership of Russian TV, its Chairman […]

(GDF/IFEX) – The following is a 9 February 1999 GDF letter to Russian Justice Minister Pavel Krasheninnikov protesting the beating of a journalist: February 9, 1999 Pavel Krasheninnikov, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation Dear Minister, We express our deepest sympathy to you with regard to the quality of personnel in charge of places […]

HASH(0x871be6c) **Updates IFEX alerts of 30 November, 14 October, 21 May and 11 May 1998** (RSF/IFEX) – The following is a RSF press release: Russia RSF calls for the release of Grigory Pasko Another hearing in the trial of journalist Grigory Pasko is due to take place in camera before a military court in Vladivostok, […]

(GDF/IFEX) – On 26 November 1998, a session of the Military Board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation was held examining the private complaint of Grigory Pasko’ s lawyers concerning the modification of measures imposed to secure the appearance of the defendant. At the session, the interests of the military journalist were represented […]

(HRW/IFEX) – On 20 October 1998, an estimated two hundred trial observers and representatives of the press were present as Judge Sergei Golets of the St. Petersburg City Court opened the Nikitin trial. Despite a request from the defence to open larger parts of the trial, the judge ordered the hearing closed after only an […]

(HRW/IFEX) – The Nikitin trial resumed on 21 October 1998 at 11:00 a.m. (local time) in a closed session. The judge questioned Nikitin until approximately 3:00 p.m. (local time), asking him in great detail to give his points of view on all sections of the indictment. According to Nikitin’s lawyers, Yurii Schmidt, Genrikh Reznik and […]

(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is most concerned about the forthcoming case of Grigori Pasko, who has been imprisoned since November 1997 in Vladivostok. IPI reported on 13 October 1998 that he was to go on trial on charges of treason on 14 October. **Updates IFEX alerts of 21 May and 11 May 1998** The charges against […]

(HRW/IFEX) – On 22 September 1998, Human Rights Watch-Moscow reported the start of the trial against Aleksandr Nikitin, writer, environmental activist and retired naval officer who is facing Russian Federation Security Bureau (FSB) inspired treason charges for his work for the Norwegian environmental organization Bellona Foundation on the dangers of nuclear contamination caused by Russia’s […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following letter, sent by CPJ to Russian President Boris Yeltsin on 4 September 1998, provides further details and thoughts around the murder of Anatoly Levin-Utkin, deputy editor of the new St. Petersburg weekly “Yuridichesky Peterburg Segodnya:” **Further to IFEX alert of 26 August 1998** “The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply […]

(GDF/IFEX) – According to GDF, on 20 August 1998, at about 8:00 p.m. (local time), Anatoly Levin-Utkin, deputy editor-in-chief of “Yuridichesky Peterburg Segodnya”, was reportedly assaulted by two unknown assailants on the porch of his house in St. Petersburg. He was found unconscious, suffering from serious head trauma. The journalist’s briefcase, containing material for the […]

(GDF/IFEX) – On 14 August 1998, in the city of Ufa in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Sergei Fufaev, a journalist with the independent newspaper “Otechestvo”, was attacked by unknown individuals. As he was leaving his house at around 10 am, three men approached the journalists and repeatedly struck him in the face. Fufaev reported that […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 27 May 1998, police raided the offices of Radio Titan, the only independent radio station in the Republic of Bashkortostan, beating and rounding up staff members and supporters. Employees and listeners had been keeping a round-the-clock vigil around the station?s building, in anticipation of official reprisals after Radio Titan aired interviews with […]

(GDF/IFEX) – GDF is deeply disturbed by the cruel assault in Kaliningrad on Igor Rudnikov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Noviye Kolyesa” and deputy of City Council of Kaliningrad. According to GDF, on 1 July 1998, an unknown person attacked Igor Rudnikov on the porch of his house, striking the journalist’s head repeatedly with an iron […]

(GDF/IFEX) – On 29 June 1998, in the city of Kirov, Sergei Bachinin, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Vyatsky Nablyudatel”, was found semi-conscious in his apartment with a fractured skull. This is the latest in a series of attacks against Bachinin. Previously, he had been attacked on 3 March 1996 when an unknown individual stabbed the […]