Live News - A Survival Guide - International Federation of Journalists

CHAPTER 4Abductions, hostage taking and targeting journalists68Nava Raj Sharma, editor of the Nepali-language weekly Kadam,was kidnapped by Maoist rebels on June 1 2002 in Kalikot, Nepal,and later brutally killed. Sharma, known for his independence, hadreportedly resisted attempts to make his paper more friendly to theMaoist fighters who control parts of Kalikot. Police recoveredSharma's badly mutilated body in mid-August. Rebels had gougedout his eyes, severed his hands and legs, and shot him in the chest,police told the National Human Rights Commission.In Russia and some other countries of the former Soviet Union,journalists who investigate corruption have been at high risk.Natalya Skryl, a business reporter for Nashe Vremya newspaper inRostov-on-Don, was attacked and repeatedly struck on the headwith a blunt object as she returned home late on March 8. She diedthe next day. Before her death Skryl, 29, had told colleagues thatshe had new information about a struggle to control Tagmet, alocal metallurgical plant. The prosecutor’s office has tried to playdown this angle, although Skryl was carrying jewellry and a largesum of cash that were not taken at the time of her murder.In the Ukraine, one of the most notorious killings of a journalistremains ‘unsolved’ more than two years after 31-year-old journalistGeorgy Gongadze, publisher of the Internet journal UkrainskaPravda disappeared on September 16 2000. His headless body wasfound in a ditch in a suburb of Kiev. Gongadze had been investigatingcorruption at the heart of Ukraine's government. Audio tapesreleased by a former bodyguard of Ukrainian president LeonidKuchma apparently implicate Kuchma and other senior ministersin a plot to harm Gongadze. Mykhailo Kolomiets, founder anddirector of Ukrainsky Novyny, an agency specialising in objectiveeconomic news, disappeared on October 21 2002. “Journalists arerightly worried that Kolomiets disappearance has an echo of theGongadze case,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White.In Chechnya, many journalists have been held for months beforebeing released in exchange for ransom or swapped for Chechenprisoners. Chechen rebels have also killed several journalists.Vladimir Yatsina, a photographer with the Russian news agencyItar-Tass was held in July 1999 and eventually killed the followingyear because his wounds slowed down the Chechen group that washolding him. Freelance photographer Brice Fleutiaux was heldhostage in Chechnya from October 1999 to June 12 2000, havingbeen abducted almost as soon as he arrived in the Chechen capitalof Grozny. During his abduction he was treated with callousness