Remembering them on Press Freedom Day The Hindu | May 3, 2005 http://www.hindu.com/2005/05/03/stories/2005050302341100.htm
There have been hundreds of unresolved murders of journalists in their line of duty around the world in the last decade. Here are details of a few of the instances, as compiled by the World Association of Newspapers to mark World Press Freedom Day, May 3: Bangladesh: Dipankar Chakrabarty, in 2004 The editor of the Bangladeshi daily Durjoy Bangla and vice-president of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, he was hacked to death and decapitated on October 2, 2004. He was walking home from work after midnight when neighbours heard his screams and motorcycles speeding away. One neighbour came out to the street to find Chakrabarty's headless body. The police called his brutal killing the work of "professionals,'' but they have not identified any motive or suspects in the case. Chakrabarty, 59, had previously told Reporters Without Borders he was being threatened due to some expos�s he had done on local gangsters receiving the protection of politicians in Sherpur. Local Bangladeshi newspapers left blank space on the first page for the three days following the murder in protest. No arrests or developments have been reported by the administration since his murder Belarus: Dimitry Zavadsky, in 2000 A Belarusian cameraman with the Russian public television network ORT, abducted at Minsk Airport on July 7 and declared dead on November 28, 2000. Zavadsky, a former official cameraman of President Alexander Lukashenko, was reported missing when he failed to meet his ORT colleague and friend Pavel Sheremet at Minsk Airport. Sheremet and Zavadsky had travelled to Chechnya to film The Chechnya Diaries, a documentary about the war in Chechnya. Upon return to Belarus, Zavadsky received threatening calls from an unknown man, who insisted on meeting with him. On July 16, 2002, the Belarus Supreme Court charged Valery Ignatovich, former head of special units at the Interior Ministry and a subordinate, Maxim Malik, with a life sentence for the abduction and disappearance of the young cameraman, but the proceedings were closed to the public. The process failed to address the question of what had happened to the journalist after his disappearance. Prosecutors announced that the case was reopened on December 10, 2003. Despite new developments, triggered by a press conference held by Mr. Lukashenko on July 20, 2004, appeals of Zavadsky's family to reopen to case have been rejected by the General Prosecutor's Office. Belgrade: Slavko Curuvija, in 1999 The publisher of Daily Telegraph and European, he was assassinated on April 11, 1999 in Belgrade. Both newspapers had been sanctioned for criticising the Milosevic Government. In December 1998, Curuvija had conducted a testimonial on Milosevic's rule before the U.S. Congress's Helsinki Commission in Washington. Upon his return, Curuvija was sentenced to five months in jail for "spreading false information." Curuvija was assaulted along with his girlfriend Branka Prpa in an alleyway that lead to their apartment in central Belgrade. Prpa identified the assassins as two men dressed in black wearing facemasks. Dusan Velickovic, a fellow journalist, released a report of the Yugoslavian State Police, leaked to him, which describes the surveillance of "a target" detailing the hours before Curuvija's assassination. Alexandar Tijanic, former columnist of the Daily Telegraph, said in an interview that Curuvija had powerful enemies. The assassins have not been officially identified and investigations into the case have not been conducted. Canada: Tara Singh Hayer, in 1998 The editor of the Punjabi-language newspaper Indo-Canadian Times, he was assassinated in the garage of his home in Surrey, British Colombia on November 18, 1998. Ten years earlier Hayer had been the victim of an assassination attempt, which left him partially paralysed. Despite continued death threats Hayer continued his work. He was an outspoken critic of fundamentalist Sikh movements in India as well as abroad, and campaigned tirelessly for a greater intercultural understanding. In spite of investigations undertaken by Canadian authorities, no concrete suspect has been found to this day. Hayer was killed shortly before his testimonial against suspects in a fatal Air India bombing. Other murders cases of outspoken critics of hard-line Sikh organizations have been linked to this case. Indonesia: Sander Thoenes, in 1999 A Dutch journalist on assignment for the Financial Times and the Christian Science Monitor, he was killed covering the landing of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the city of Dili on September 21, 1999. Thoenes had arranged with a motorbike rider to take him to the Becora area, a strongly pro-independent area of East Timor. They encountered the militant Battalion 745, which was retreating from Dili following the arrival of Australian-led U.N. Peacekeeping forces. The battalion fired on the motorbike and caused Thoenes to fall. The driver of the motorbike escaped. Sander Thones body was found by Peacekeeping Forces on September 22, shot in the back and bearing grave marks of torture, with his left ear sliced off and several cuts in his face. The U.N.-Sanctioned International Force in East Timor conducted a report into the killing and established that Thoenes was most likely murdered by the Battalion 745. Despite overwhelming evidence and testimonials, the Indonesian Attorney-General on June 19, 2002, declared the case to be closed due to insufficient evidence to prosecute and the unreliability of the key witness. Despite official protest of the Dutch Government, Thoenes' killers have not been brought to justice to this day. The Philippines: Gene Boyd Lumawag, in 2004 The photo editor for MindaNews newspaper, he was shot dead on a street in downtown Jolo on November 12, 2004. The gunman fired one bullet killing Lumawag, 26, before leaving the scene. Days later, a task force was created specifically for the investigation into the slaying of Lumawag. The report of one eyewitness lead investigators to file a complaint on November 17 for two suspects, brothers Omar and Iting Sailani. MindaNews colleagues say Lumawag, 26, may have been in Jolo working on a corruption story with a journalist from Mindanao Island who was not present at Lumawag's attack. No motive has been established behind the killing of Lumawag though the Sailani brothers are reportedly on the most wanted list of Abu Sayyaf. Since the task force filed the complaint, no formal charges have been brought against Lumawag's suspected killers. Russia: Natalya Skryl, in 2002 A business reporter for the Nashe Vremya newspaper based in Rostov-on-Don, southwestern Russia, she was beaten to death when returning to her home in the city of Taganrog late on the night of March 9, 2002. She was discovered unconscious from repeated blows to the head by a heavy, blunt object, and died shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital. A large sum of money was found in Skryl's handbag at the time of her death, suggesting robbery was not the motive behind the attack. Nashe Vremya's editor-in-chief, Vera Ioujanskaia, said she thought it was connected to sensitive information Skryl had obtained about the business activities of several companies struggling to get control over a local metallurgical plant. No suspect has been arrested. Sierra Leone: Kurt Schork, in 2000 A veteran Reuters correspondent, he was killed by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front in an ambush on May 24, 2000. Schork was a well-known war correspondent. Richard Holbrook, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., said: "Kurt Schork was one of the bravest, smartest and finest journalists I have ever worked with over the last 35 years. He was almost always right. He showed no bias. He was cheerful no matter how awful the situation. He believed journalists could be a force for good in the world while reporting the truth as they saw it." Schork's family in cooperation with Reuters News Agency has established a memorial fund honouring achievements of local and freelance journalists every year. Kurt Schork's murderers have never been brought to justice. The Philippines: Edgar Damalerio, in 2000 The managing editor of the weekly Zamboanga Scribe and radio host on DXKP radio station on the island of Mindanao, he was killed on May 13, 2002. He was shot in the chest by an unidentified gunman as he was driving home from a press conference in Pagadian City. Before his death Damalerio wrote an expos� on the failure of the Lanao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Lasureco) to complete any of its projects during the administration of former Philippine President Fidel Ramos. The story, which appeared in the Mindanao Gold Star on April 19, 2002, claimed that the company lied when it reported that the projects had been completed. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested policeman Guillermo Wapille last May 17. He was identified by two witnesses who were with Damalerio at the time of the killing. However, Wapille managed to escape from custody. One of the witnesses, Amoro, was recently killed despite being placed under special witness protection. Damalerio's widow, Gemma, is still in hiding. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/rkgkPB/UOnJAA/Zx0JAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -- This is ZESTGlobal. Post articles on international affairs to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTGlobal by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTGlobal/join/ Yahoo! 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