This week the U.S. Department of State released the annual Human Rights Report. The Russian chapter is a scary read, especially if you are a journalist - an advocate of free press.
In a 40,000+ word report - 47 separate reports of journalist intimidation, state-pressed agendas, suppression of the press, and downright murder suggest Russia is a pit in Hell for journalism.
Extract after extract details torture, detention, bribery, suppression and murder:
In August, Russia launched a military invasion using disproportionate force across Georgia’s internationally recognized borders responding to what Russian officials reported was Georgia’s use of heavy force in Tskhinvali, the local capital of Georgia’s South Ossetian region, and the killings of Russian peacekeepers. Military operations by Georgian and Russian forces reportedly involved the use of indiscriminate force and resulted in civilian casualties, including of a number of journalists.
Government pressure weakened freedom of expression and media independence, particularly of the major television networks. Five journalists were killed during the year, in one case in Ingushetiya by police. Unresolved killings of journalists remained a problem. As some print and Internet media reflected a widening range of views, the government restricted media freedom through direct ownership of media outlets, pressuring the owners of major media outlets to abstain from critical coverage, and harassing and intimidating journalists into practicing self-censorship.
There were no developments in the 2006 kidnappings of Yelena Yersenoyeva, the widow of Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and a journalist and HIV/AIDS activist in Groznyy, and her mother.
Unresolved killings of journalists remained a problem. Mistreatment of journalists by authorities included reported cases of abuse, including physical assault. The government severely restricted coverage by all media of events in Chechnya and Ingushetiya. There were indications that government pressure led reporters to engage in self-censorship, particularly on issues critical of the government.
Two of the 14 national newspapers are owned by the government or state-owned companies, as are more than 60 percent of the country’s 45,000 registered local newspapers and periodicals.
In November, unknown assailants seriously beat independent Khimki journalist Mikhail Beketov, publisher of the weekly Khimkiskaya Pravda. Beketov’s paper had frequently criticized local authorities for construction projects that damaged the local environment, and for corruption associated with those projects.
During the August conflict in Georgia, reporting in state-owned or state-controlled media adhered closely to the government’s position. Journalists and news anchors of Rossiya and First Channel reported receiving “guidelines” from management prepared by the presidential administration indicating which politicians they should support and which they should criticize.
The federal Ministry of Internal Affairs continued to control media access to the area of the Chechen conflict. Foreign journalists were required to obtain government accreditation to enter Chechnya, but even those with proper documents were sometimes refused access.
Moscow journalist Boris Stomakhin, editor of the monthly Radikalnaya Politika newspaper, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic hatred for violent and provocative writings. Human rights activists asserted that the severity of the sentence was unprecedented. In February his appeal for early release was denied, and the NGO For Human Rights, after visiting him in prison, reported concerns for his health.
Mistreatment of journalists by authorities was not limited to Caucasus-related coverage. The GDF and other media freedom monitoring organizations reported cases of abuse of journalists by police and other security personnel elsewhere, including physical assault and vandalism of equipment. In most instances, the mistreatment appeared to have been at the initiative of local officials.
In December, during a series of protests in response to a planned increase in tariffs on imported cars, mistreatment of journalists was a problem. Police beat a number of journalists, including correspondents of Primorskoye TV, TV Center, NHK, Moskovskiy Komsomolets daily, and ITAR-TASS, and destroyed their equipment.
According to the GDF, 69 journalists were physically attacked and five journalists were killed during the year. Eight journalists were killed in 2007. In most cases, authorities and observers were unable to establish a direct link between an assault and the persons who reportedly had taken offense at the reporting in question. Independent media NGOs characterized beatings of journalists by unknown assailants as “routine,” noting that those who pursued investigative stories on corruption and organized crime found themselves at greatest risk. The foundation reported that in some cases the killings appeared to be related to the journalists’ work.
On September 2, two assailants shot Telman Alishayev, a journalist from the Islam-focused TV Chirkey, in Makhachkala, Dagestan. He died the following day. Alishayev was well-known in Dagestan for his criticism of Islamic extremism in the North Caucasus.
Most high-profile cases of journalists who were killed or kidnapped during the year or in earlier years remained unsolved. There were some cases where some family and colleagues disagreed with official findings in the deaths of journalists, alleging that the deaths were connected to their reporting. These included the March 2007 death, officially ruled a suicide, of Kommersant military reporter Ivan Safronov after falling from a fifth-floor window at the time he was writing a sensitive article about the country’s plan to sell military equipment, and of Aleisk New Television cameraman Vyacheslav Ifanov, who was found dead in his garage in April 2007. Authorities determined Ifanov died of carbon monoxide poisoning but relatives and colleagues disputed this and noted that his body had numerous bruises. Shortly before his death, military servicemen severely beat him and destroyed his camera as he filmed a report near their base. Ifanov was hospitalized with a concussion, but he pressed charges and identified one of the attackers prior to his death; however, the case remained stalled due to the suspects’ military status.
In June, authorities charged a former police officer and two residents of Chechnya in the 2006 killing of prominent investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow. An officer from the FSB, whom authorities had previously accused of giving Politkovskaya’s killers her address, was separately charged with extortion and abuse of office.
In March 2007, a Moscow court suspended the trial in the case of the 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the U.S. citizen editor in chief of Forbes Russia, and the Supreme Court ordered a new trial. The first trial was suspended when the lead defendant, Kazbek Dukuzov, failed to appear.
There were no developments in the case of three REN-TV journalists and Memorial’s Oleg Orlov, who in November 2007 suffered kidnapping and beating in Ingushetiya; they were there to cover an opposition political demonstration and also reportedly filmed a special forces operation the day before during which a young boy was killed by stray gunfire. At year’s end no investigation had been opened into the attack.
Authorities at all levels used their authority, sometimes publicly, to deny access to journalists who criticized them. One method was to deny the media access to events and information, including filming opportunities and statistics theoretically available to the public.
Useful Links:
- List of Journalists Killed in Russia
- Committee to Protect Journalists
February 28th, 2009 | Category: Chechnya, Groznyy, Hell, Human Rights Watch, Medvedev, Moscow, Putin, Russia, freedom, journalism |
Email This Post
| Leave a comment