Country report

No justice for journalists in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia

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ARTICLE 19

30 Sep 2011

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Over the past 10 years, disappearances and killings of journalists in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia have been met with an inadequate response from these governments. The result in all three states has been the emergence of a climate of impunity, violations of journalists’ human rights, and a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Following a foreword by ARTICLE 19 Executive Director Agnès Callamard and International Media Support (IMS) Executive Director Jesper Højberg and an introduction by German Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the report examines a number of cases of journalists who have disappeared and/or been killed in connection with their professional activities since 2000 in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. 

None of these cases have been fully solved; although there have been arrests and prosecutions in some of them, none of the instigators and few of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.

The following cases have been profiled in detail in this report:

In Ukraine:

  • Vasyl Klymentyev, disappeared on 11 August 2010
  • Igor Aleksandrov, killed on 7 July 2002
  • Georgiy Gongadze, disappeared on 16 September 2000

In Belarus:

  • Aleh Byabenin, killed on 3 September 2010
  • Veronika Cherkasova, killed on 20 October 2004
  • Dmitriy Zavadsky, disappeared on 7 July 2000

In Russia:

  • Malik Akhmedilov, killed on 11 August 2009 
  • Natalya Estemirova, killed on 15 July 2009
  • Anastasia Baburova, killed on 19 January 2009
  • Magomed Yevloyev, killed on 31 August 2008
  • Anna Politkovskaya, killed on 7 October 2006 
  • Magomed Varisov, killed on 28 June 2005
  • Maxim Maximov, killed on 29 June 2004 
  • Alexi Sidorov, killed on 9 October 2003
  • Yuriy Shchekochikhin, died on 3 July 2003
  • Vladimir Sukhomlin, disappeared on 4 January 2003
  • Valery Ivanov, killed on 29 April 2002 
  • Eduard Markevich, killed on 9 September 2001 
  • Victor Popkov, disappeared on 2 June 2001 
  • Vladimir Kirsanov, disappeared on 17 May 2001
  • Igor Domnikov, killed on 16 July 2000
  • Vladimir Yatsina, disappeared on 19 July 1999

The report also contains a number of recommendations to the authorities in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, as well as to the international community, on the legal and political measures needed to protect journalists and defend the right to freedom of expression in these countries. These recommendations are largely the product of discussions which took place during the conference organised by ARTICLE 19 and International Media Support (IMS) in Kyiv, Ukraine on 16 September, 2010, ‘Ten Years On, No Justice for Georgiy Gongadze: the Need to Find New Ways to Fight Impunity.’ A summary of the conference is also provided in the report.

 

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