(GDF/IFEX) – On 1 August 1998, Russian journalists Vitaly Ponomarev and Nikolai Mitrokhin, who are reporters for the Moscow Panorama Agency, were assaulted and beaten in the centre of Tashkent by five or six unknown individuals following their meeting with Marat Zakhidov, a well-known Uzbek human rights activist. In sight of passers-by, the assailants knocked […]
(GDF/IFEX) – On 1 August 1998, Russian journalists Vitaly Ponomarev and
Nikolai Mitrokhin, who are reporters for the Moscow Panorama Agency, were
assaulted and beaten in the centre of Tashkent by five or six unknown
individuals following their meeting with Marat Zakhidov, a well-known Uzbek
human rights activist. In sight of passers-by, the assailants knocked
Mitrokhin off his feet and began kicking him. Ponomarev was also injured in
the incident. After the assailants fled, the journalists went to the Russian
Embassy in Tashkent where they received first aid.
The assault is thought to be connected to Ponomarev and Mitrokhin having
visited towns in the Fergana Valley where they were collecting information
on repression against religious organizations in Uzbekistan.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
violated their right to practise their profession freely
that it is in the interests of the state and justice to punish those
responsible and make public the investigation’s results
Appeals To
His Excellency Islam A. Karimov
President of Uzbekistan
Fax: +7 3712 395 525Copies to:
Yevgeny Primakov
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Russian Federation
Fax: +70 95 244 24 01
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
