Russia

CPJ has confirmed reports that on 8 August 1996, four members of a Cable News Network (CNN) television crew, travelling in an armoured Land Rover vehicle that was clearly marked with the letters “T.V.” on the roof and sides, were stopped at a Russian military checkpoint on the outskirts of Grozny, the capital of the […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 10 July and 19 June 1996** Below is a translation from Russion of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ reply to CPJ’s letter on Samara journalist Valery Yerofeyev, whose trial on fabricated charges resumed on 8 July 1996 (see IFEX alerts). Following that is the full text of CPJ’s response. Similar […]

Source: Glasnost Defense Foundation, Moscow **Updates IFEX alerts dated 14 May 1996; 30 November, 5 October, 29 August, 23 and 20 June 1995** On 16 July 1996, Sergei Fedotov,the soldier accused of killing Russian journalist Natalya Alyakina, was handed a suspended sentence of two years for “involuntary manslaughter through negligent use of firearms” by a […]

Source: Globus Independent Press Syndicate Media Defence Center, Moscow **Updates IFEX alert dated 19 June 1996** The trial of journalist Valery Yerofeyev resumed in closed session in the Russian provincial city of Samara on 8 July 1996. (The session was adjourned from 21 June to 7 July, apparently in response to local and international protests.) […]

On 24 June 1996, a presidential decree was issued which forbids making insulting or slanderous public remarks about the President of Tartarstan. The decree calls for a four million ruble (US$ 800) fine on anyone found guilty of the charge. Repeat offenders whose insults are printed in the media face higher fines of seven million […]

On 6 February 1996, Alexander Nikitin, the co-author of a report by the Oslo-based environmental group Bellona entitled “The Russian Northern Fleet: Sources of Radioactive Contamination”, was arrested by Russian authorities. He has been charged under Article 64 of the Russian Criminal Code with treason, which carries a prison term of between 10 and 15 […]

Source: Globus Independent Press Syndicate Media Defence Centre, Moscow The case of journalist Valery Yerofeyev, who has already been in detention for nine months, went to trial on 18 June 1996 in the city of Samara. Yerofeyev is charged under Article 226 of the Penal Code with “pandering” in regard to his alleged procurement of […]

According to the Russian news agency, ITAR-TASS, Viktor Mikhailov, a crime reporter for the Siberian daily “Zabaikalsky Rabochy”, was killed by unknown assailants in broad daylight in downtown Chita on 12 May 1996. His mutilated body was identified the following day. Mikhailov had reportedly been covering crime reports and the work of law enforcement agencies […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 30 November, 5 October, 29 August, 23 and 20 June 1995** On 15 May 1996, the trial of the soldier who killed journalist Natalya Alyakina (also reported as Natalia Aliakina) opened before a military court in Lermontov, in southern Russia. He is being tried for “infringement of the regulations on handling […]

On 9 May 1996, Nina Yefimova, a 25-year-old Russian correspondent who resided in Chechnya, was found dead from a pistol shot to the back of the head. According to ITAR-TASS, both Yefimova and her mother were abducted from their apartment on the outskirts of Grozny on the night of 8 May. Yefimova’s body was found […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 12 and 10 April 1996** According to colleagues of murdered “Obshchaya gazeta” correspondent Nadezhda Chaikova, the office of the Prosecutor General of Russia has not opened an investigation into her death and the local Chechen village prosecutor who originally took up the case is unlikely to go further because of limited […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 2 February and 25 January 1996** The CPJ has reported that, according to journalists at the Islamic weekly “Selam”, both Ali Tekin and Telip Ozcelik (also reported as Ozdemir), were sentenced to three years imprisonment for illegal entry into Chechnya under Article 83 of the Russian Criminal Code. Recommended Action Send […]

On the evening of 17 June 1995, Natalia Aliakina, a Russian journalist for the German weekly “Focus”, was killed by a Russian soldier. She had just crossed a Russian army barricade at the entry to the southern city of Boudennovsk. She was with her husband, Gisbert Mrozek, who has worked with “Focus” for two and […]

On 3 June 1995, Noel Quidu, a French photographer with the Gamma agency, Laurent Hamida, an independent French cameraman, and United States journalist Stephanie Heymann of the Independent Media agency were arrested by Russian forces while crossing the border between Chechnya and Dagestan. They were again detained in Makhatchkala in Dagestan by the Minister of […]

**Updates IFEX CH alerts dated 17 and 14 March 1995** After exhausting all efforts to find the missing journalists Maxime Chabaline and Felix Tritov through their political channels, the staff of St. Petersburg newspaper “Nevskoe Vremya” organized a third search group, which left for Chechnya on 9 April. The group planned to exhume several graves […]

On 22 February 1995 Alexei Kostin, founder and publisher of the Latvian-based newspaper “Yeshcho” goes to trial. Kostin has been incarcerated since February 1994 when he was arrested for producing and distributing pornography. He was arrested despite the fact that “Yeshcho”, the publication deemed pornographic by the prosecutors, was never ordered to cease publication. Kostin’s […]