When CPJ issued its recent special report Anatomy of Injustice: The Unsolved Killings of Journalists in Russia, we called on world leaders to join us in engaging Russian leaders on human rights, press freedom, and impunity. We were pleased to hear Secretary Hillary Clinton do just that today when she spoke about impunity at a town-hall style meeting today in Moscow.
“A society cannot be truly open when those who stand up and speak out are murdered and people cannot trust the rule of law when killers act with impunity. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 18 journalists have been killed in Russia since 2000 in retaliation for their work. But in only one case have the killers been convicted. When violence like this goes unpunished in any society, it’s undermining the rule of law, chills public discourse, which is, after all, the lifeblood of an open society, and it diminishes the public’s confidence and trust in their own government.”
Clinton also supported arguments we made in our report about the importance of transparency of governance, the rule of law, and public trust in one’s government. We hope that other world leaders from Europe and Russia will join Clinton in engaging Russia on these vital issues.
See a video of Clinton speaking here.