New York, May 11, 2000 — Up to forty investigators and police commandos raided the Moscow offices of a media company that has often criticized Kremlin policies, according to local and international news reports. While Russian authorities claim the raid was connected to an investigation of so-called economic crimes, company representatives say they are convinced…
By Ann CooperAs a foreign correspondent covering the Soviet Union a decade ago, I was an eyewitness to a dramatic example of the press’ critical role in building democracy. Granted a bit of freedom by Mikhail Gorbachev’s mid-1980s glasnost policy, long-suppressed Soviet journalists set their own daring agenda: they probed forbidden history, investigated contemporary corruption,…
By Chrystyna Lapychak Wars in Yugoslavia and Chechnya dominated regional and international headlines in 1999. The conflicts raised the journalists’ death toll in the region and prompted crackdowns, as governments blocked access to war zones and engaged in propaganda campaigns.
[Click here for full list of documented cases] At its most fundamental level, the job of a journalist is to bear witness. In 1999, journalists in Sierra Leone witnessed rebels’ atrocities against civilians in the streets of Freetown. In the Balkans, journalists watched ethnic Albanians fleeing the deadly menace of Serbian police and paramilitaries. In…
“We have to protect the state from the media,” said Mikhail Lesin, the head of Russia’s new Ministry for the Press, Radio and Television Broadcasting, and Media Affairs, shortly after taking office in July. Coming in advance of the country’s legislative and presidential elections, it was a stunning statement of Kremlin intent. Lesin’s demonization of…
New York, March 10, 2000 — Artyom Borovik, a legendary figure in Russian journalism, died in an air accident yesterday. He was one of four passengers and five crew members who were killed when their private plane crashed during takeoff from Moscow on a flight bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Officials are looking into…
New York, March 10, 2000 — Two weeks after Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky re-appeared following a month of mysterious captivity in Chechnya, confusion still surrounds his case. Today, the Russian Interfax news service reported that Babitsky had been charged with aiding Chechen rebels. Interfax said the Russian prosecutor general’s office had filed the charges,…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the physical and psychological abuse that veteran Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Andrei Babitsky has reported suffering at the hands of Russian forces during his detention at Chrernokozovo, a Russian detention camp near Grozny. We are also concerned that despite his release on February 29, after several weeks of captivity, Babitsky still faces criminal charges for allegedly traveling on a forged passport.
New York, February 29, 2000—CPJ is investigating reports that a Russian photographer kidnapped by Chechen rebels has been murdered. ITAR-TASS news agency photographer Vladimir Yatsina, 51, had been missing since July 19, 1999, following his arrival in the Ingushetian border town of Nazran. According to reports, he was then kidnapped and taken to Chechnya. At…