List of Journalists Killed in Russia - How The Figures Have Been Compiled

How The Figures Have Been Compiled

Among international monitors the figures quoted for deaths of journalists in Russia have varied, sometimes considerably. There are several explanations. One, certain organisations are concerned with all aspects of safety in news gathering, and so the International Federation of Journalists and the International News Safety Institute also record accidents that have occurred at work. Two, some monitoring bodies include only fatalities in crossfire and dangerous assignments, and those murders where they feel sure of the motive behind the lethal attack and can with confidence lobby the appropriate government — the CPJ adopts this approach. Three, the term "journalist" is used by monitors as a general term to cover many different occupations within the media. Some include support staff, others do not.

In any list of deaths,compiled by monitors inside or outside the country, Russia ranks high. When the killing began the brief first Chechen war took numerous lives of journalists from within Chechnya and from further afield. This deadly combat zone was then matched by that in the former Yugoslavia, above all in Bosnia. There were also mounting peacetime deaths of journalists elsewhere in the Russian Federation.

Those deliberately targeted for their work have tended to be reporters, correspondents and editors. In Russia many directors of new regional TV and radio stations have been murdered but most of these deaths are thought to relate to conflicting business interests. Photographers and cameramen are particularly vulnerable in crossfire situations, such as the October 1993 days in Moscow and the armed conflict in the North Caucasus.

Following Russia's media monitors, the IFJ database of deaths and disappearances in Russia embraces the entire range of media occupations and every degree of uncertainty as to the motive for many of the attacks. At the same time it allows for selection and analysis. One, it classifies the way in which a journalist died (homicide, accident, crossfire, terrorist act or not confirmed) and, two, it assesses each death as certainly, possibly, or most probably not, linked to the journalist's work.

Since the early 1990s Russia's media monitors have recorded every violent or suspicious death that came to their attention. Determining which were linked to the work of the journalist concerned has not always been easy since law enforcement agencies in Russia were then struggling to cope with a wave of murders, and the number of unsolved killings of journalists steadily mounted. In the last few years the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations has gathered all available information about these deaths on its Memorium site. This made it possible to check how far these deaths have been investigated and how many have led to court cases. The IFJ data base summarises the information accumulated on the Memorium site and makes it available in English for the first time.

The most up to date information is that 30% of all the murders committed since 1993 have resulted in prosecutions. And if few reached the courts in the early 1990s, in the last few years the proportion has risen to 60% of all acknowledged homicides. This shifts the focus of concern to the quality of justice administered and, in particular, to the failure to solve the minority of very important cases within that total of targeted contract killings linked to the journalist's investigative work and publications.

During a study of international fraud-detection homicide which compared fraud detection homicide cases from the United States of America against fraud detection homicide cases from the former Soviet Republic the murder of Paula Klebenikov illustrated a case of a contract killing of a journalist known to expose fraud in governments. At the time of his murder, he was thought to be investigating complex money laundering fraud scheme involving Chechen reconstruction projects. The investigation appears to reveal that Klebnikov had discovered that the fraud reached deep into the centers of power in the Kremlin, elements involving organized crime, and also the former KGB, which is now known as the FSB.