**For background to reports of missing Ukrainian journalists, see alert of 13 September 1996** CPJ is concerned at the reported kidnapping in Grozny of Natalya Vasenina, editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, “Nezavisimost” (“Independence”). According to the Russian wire services RIA/Novosti and ITAR/TASS, a well-informed source close to the Moscow-backed Chechen government reported that Vasenina was […]
**For background to reports of missing Ukrainian journalists, see alert of 13 September 1996**
CPJ is concerned at the reported kidnapping in Grozny of Natalya Vasenina, editor-in-chief of a local newspaper, “Nezavisimost” (“Independence”). According to the Russian wire services RIA/Novosti and ITAR/TASS, a well-informed source close to the Moscow-backed Chechen government reported that Vasenina was taken from her home in central Grozny and forced into a car at 14:30 hours on 27 September 1996 by two unidentified masked persons who threatened to use firearms. Chechen separatist spokesman Movlady Udugov stated that regional and state security authorities were conducting searches for the missing journalist. RIA/Novosti characterized “Nezavisimost”, formerly named “Komsomolskoye Plamya”, as “centrist” in opinion and as one of the most popular periodicals in Chechnya. No other information is available.
The CPJ is also concerned for three television journalists from the Lita-M studio in Kharkhiv, Ukraine (Vitaly Shevchenko, Andrei Bazvluk, and Elena Petrova) who were last seen in Grozny in August, and were reported missing by their colleagues in September (see IFEX alert).
The CPJ has also strongly protested the use of journalists in prisoner of war exchanges. Two Chechen journalists from the
separatist television channel, Salman Betelgereyev and Bekhan Tepsayev, were detained by Russian federal border guards on 31 August at the airport in Makhachkala, Dagestan (Russian Federation) upon arriving from Turkey. Officials claimed to have
confiscated Chechen separatist materials and newspapers published in Turkey. The two were released on 22 September by federal troops at the military base in Khankala outside Grozny in exchange for Russian Interior Ministry troops held by Chechen fighters.
According to CPJ, throughout the Chechen conflict, journalists have repeatedly been targeted for their work in Chechnya and the Russian federal government has failed to take action to guarantee their safety.
Recommended Action:
Send appeals to the Russian President:
– respectfully reminding him that, under internationally-recognized human rights standards, journalists have the right to receive and impart information regardless of frontiers protesting strongly the use of journalists in prisoner of war exchanges, and stating that, as non-combatants, journalists must not be exploited by warring parties in prisoner exchanges
– expressing grave concern about the safety of these missing and kidnapped journalists
– urging that he do everything possible to locate the missing and kidnapped journalists, and guarantee their safe return
– asking to be notified of any information
Appeals To:
His Excellency Boris Yeltsin
President
Moscow, Russia
Fax: +7 095 206 5173/ 206 3961/ 206 5137/ 206 0033
Government Press Office Fax: +70 95 230 2408
Please copy appeals to the CPJ and to:
– the Russian diplomatic representative to your country
(in Canada)
Ambassador Alexander M. Belogonov
Embassy of the Russian Federation
285 Charlotte St.
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 8L5 Canada
Fax: +1 613 236 6342
(in the United States)
Ambassador Yuli Vorontsov
Embassy of the Russian Federation
Washington, DC
United States
Fax: +1 202 298 5735
– your diplomatic representative in Russia
