(CJES/IFEX) – On 1 November 2006, in the city of Chita (in Chita region), Andrey Sharonov, a camera operator with the state broadcasting company Chita, was harassed by security guards and forced to delete his footage, while attempting to report on a fire. Igor Kungurov, chief of Chita television’s information programming, told CJES that Sharonov […]
(CJES/IFEX) – On 1 November 2006, in the city of Chita (in Chita region), Andrey Sharonov, a camera operator with the state broadcasting company Chita, was harassed by security guards and forced to delete his footage, while attempting to report on a fire.
Igor Kungurov, chief of Chita television’s information programming, told CJES that Sharonov and a film crew went to cover a fire at an office building located on Baleyskaya Street. “At the scene, firefighters and employees of the emergency ministry had begun their work”, said Kungurov. “However, when Sharonov began to film the event, three security guards from Angyr security agency approached him and demanded he stop. The guards stated that it was private property that was burning, and that unauthorized persons were prohibited from entering the area. They also fired a warning shot into the air. Obviously, they wanted to frighten our colleague.”
Kungurov also said that Sharonov introduced himself and explained that he was performing his professional duty. The three guards then dragged him into a security cell and forcibly seized his camera. The security guards offered him a choice: either to delete the footage or to have his camera broken. The operator was forced to delete his footage.
“Fortunately, Andrey Sharonov was not physically injured, but he personally and all the Chita staff have suffered a moral loss. Therefore, we and our lawyers have prepared a legal case. The security guards committed various misdeeds, but the most serious, in our opinion, was their preventing a journalist from performing his professional work. We do not want a precedent to be established by which security firms and those who use their services will feel free to treat journalists in this manner,” said Kungurov.
