OSCE media freedom representative urges Russia to vigorously investigate murders of Dagestani journalists
VIENNA, 27 March 2008 - Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said today he was shocked by the recent murders of Dagestani television journalists, and appealed to the Russian authorities to calm fears about a targeted wave of terror by carrying out vigorous and transparent investigations.
On 21 March, Ilyas Shurpayev, a 32-year-old Dagestani correspondent for State Television's Channel One, was found murdered in his Moscow apartment. He had been stabbed and strangled. On the same day, Gadzhi Abashilov, the Head of the State Radio and Television Company of Dagestan, was shot dead in his car in the Dagistani capital Makhachkala.
In a letter addressed to the Russian authorities, Haraszti welcomed the fact that the authorities immediately opened criminal cases into both murders, and that Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika had taken personal charge of the Abashilov case.
"For the sake of securing the safety of journalism, the investigation needs to determine with clarity whether the killings were interrelated, or related to the journalists' coverage of the North Caucasus region," said Haraszti.
"The understandable fear that the cases may be part of organized terror against journalists in the Dagestan region has to be met by a vigorous and successful tracking down of those who carried out the murders and the forces behind them."
Haraszti asked the Russian authorities to provide information on both investigations.