CPJ expresses concern over failure of justice in some cases on journalists' murders in Russia

Today, the failure of justice in the cases on journalists' murders is one of the main enemies of press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) states. According to the CPJ, 370 journalists were killed throughout the world during the period of 2004-2013. Meanwhile, according to the CPJ, no one has been held criminally liable for 333 of the above mentioned murders of journalists. The number of those 333 unsolved journalists' murders also includes the murder of employee Natalia Estemirova, a staff member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", who used to work in Chechnya.

On October 28, the CPJ's website published the report titled "The road to justice: breaking the cycle of impunity in the killing of journalists".

The CPJ's report examines the cases of violence against journalists in various countries, including Russia. The CPJ records in details the murders of journalists since 1992, and the CPJ's list includes 56 Russian journalists killed during the above period. By the number of killed journalists, Russia occupies the fifth place in the world together with Pakistan, behind Iraq, the Philippines, Syria, and Algeria.

The CPJ's report also notes that the Kremlin has reached certain, though long delayed, progress in announcement of verdicts of guilty in the case of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, an observer of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta". However, investigations into other cases, where journalists fell victims, tend to be closed, especially in the cases, where the traces lead investigators to politically "unfit" suspects.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.