(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed outrage over a brutal assault on political journalist Viktor Naikhin, after local authorities dismissed the attack as a random criminal act. The organisation called on the prosecutor general and the interior minister to immediately investigate any links to Naikhin’s work and to “punish those responsible for this act of extreme […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed outrage over a brutal assault on political journalist Viktor Naikhin, after local authorities dismissed the attack as a random criminal act.
The organisation called on the prosecutor general and the interior minister to immediately investigate any links to Naikhin’s work and to “punish those responsible for this act of extreme violence.” A number of details of the case appear to support the hypothesis that the attack is related to the journalist’s work.
Naikhin, a correspondent for the Moscow-based newspapers “Moë” and “Komsomolskaya Pravda” who is better known under his pseudonym of “Viktor Baker”, was brutally attacked at his home in Voronej on 8 March 2005. He had been covering municipal and regional elections.
Earlier on the day of the attack, Naikhin was contacted by a former colleague, now a journalist for the local television station Gubernia, to discuss a subject the colleague had just finished filming. The Gubernia journalist arrived at Naikhin’s apartment with three other people, all of whom were about 30 years of age, at about 2:30 p.m. (local time). The journalist pitched an idea for a new story on the Voronej election campaign to Naikhin. When Naikhin refused the proposal, two of the men began to beat him viciously and to demand money. They also ordered him to “lay off the politicians” but refused to specify which politicians they were talking about. “To explain it we will have to beat you some more,” they simply said.
The men beat Naikhin for about 40 minutes, leaving him unconscious and with three broken ribs, a concussion, a badly bruised face, and temporary loss of the use his right hand. They also stole the journalist’s computer hard drive, tape recorder, digital camera, mobile phone, credit card and 2,000 roubles (approx. US$72).
The four assailants have still not been found nor have police questioned Naikhin’s former colleague, whom he clearly identified.
