Introduction
1997 has been a year when the focus switched back to Latin America as the number of journalists killed in the region trebled. It has also been the year when, with decreasing numbers of journalists killed in war zones, statistics confirmed a hard-core and expanding level of journalists targeted and killed for their investigative work.
The IFJ lists all journalists killed while working or because of their work. We make no distinction between a correspondent caught in the crossfire while covering a war and the violent death of other journalists killed while on assignment.
The IFJ works with other groups, notably the Committee to Protect Journalists, who also compile annual lists. However, our numbers differ because those groups only count the accidental deaths of journalists when they are covering an armed conflict. We include all forms of journalistic activity.
Many journalists are the victims of tragic accidents, some are the targets of violence and others are brutally assassinated. It is not possible to make simple distinctions in drawing up this list.
In some cases, especially Latin America and the countries of the former Soviet Union, it is difficult even to find the specific motive for the killing. In some areas the appalling failure of official investigation leads us to include all cases of violent death unless information is provided to the contrary.
There is no doubt that more must be done to protect journalists which is why the IFJ has launched a draft international code of practice for media professionals to ensure that life insurance, medical assistance, risk-awareness training and social protection are provided for journalists.
Country by Country Analysis
(JK=Journalists killed)
(UI/M = Under investigation)
(MWK = Mediaworkers Killed)
Algeria: 2(MWK)
Argentina: 1(JK)
Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1(UI)
Brazil: 2(JK)
Cambodia: 3(JK)
Colombia: 3(JK); 3(UI)
El Salvador: 1(JK)
Guatemala: 3(JK); 1(UI)
India: 2(JK); 5(MWK)
Indonesia: 2(JK)
Iran: 1(JK)
Kazakhstan: 1(UI)
Mexico: 4(JK); 1(UI)
Namibia: 1(UI)
Pakistan: 3(JK)
Peru: 2(JK); 2(UI)
Philippines: 1(JK)
Russia: 8(JK); 5(UI)
Rwanda: 1(JK)
Sierra Leone: 1 (JK)
Ukraine: 2(JK)
Total 40 - Journalists Killed
7 Mediaworkers Killed
15 Under Investigation
Figures as at 22 December 1997
IFJ Killed List 1997
This list is compiled for the International Federation of Journalists by the Journalists' Safety Service (JSS), an information and documentation project established by the IFJ and the Netherlands Association of Journalists.
The list contains the total number of killed journalists as known to the international journalist community. However, the number of journalists counted is subject to alteration as a result of ongoing research and investigation.
Further information can be obtained from:
International Federation of Journalists
266 Rue Royal
1210 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: +32 2 223 22 65
Fax: +32 2 219 29 76
http://www.ifj.org
Cases of Journalists Killed
Country: ARGENTINA
CASENR: 1
Name: Jose Luis Cabezas
Nationality: Argentine
Profession: Photo Journalism
Newsorgan: Noticias
Sector: PRESS
Date: 25/01/97
Age: 35
Source: FATPREN, FIP, Reuters, CPJ
Description: On 25 January, the body of Cabezas, a photographer with the weekly investigative magazine Noticias, was discovered by a fisherman near Pinamar.
Additional: Cabezas' body was inside a burned out car with a gunshot wound in the head and his hands handcuffed behind his back. He was so badly burned that Cabezas could only be identified by his watch, car keys and dental records. Cabezas, had been sent to Pinamar, a favourite summer resort for politicians, to cover seasonal, social and political events. Recently, he had also covered corruption cases, including revelations of crime syndicates in the Buenos Aires police. Cabezas was a father of three children and a highly respected photographer.
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Country: BRAZIL
CASENR: 2
Name: Natan Pereira Gatinho
Nationality: Brazilian
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: TV Mundial / Radio Cidade FM
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 11/01/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, RSF,IFEX
Description: On 11 January, Gatinho, a television correspondent for the television station TV Mundial, was ambushed and shot dead near his home in Paragominas, in the southern state of Para. According to witnesses, the murder resembled a contract killing. The killer shot the journalist twice, then again in the head before fleeing.
Additional: Gatinho had recently told colleagues about death threats he had received. He had often reported on the appropriation of land by big landowners in the area and on exploitative practices in the forestry sector. In 1996, he criticised a poultry company as well as a truck driver who had accidentally killed a TV Mundial journalist. Gatinho had also worked for a popular program on Radio Cidade FM until November 1996 when a disagreement with the owner led to his dismissal. Because of his popularity, Gatinho had stood as a candidate in the October 1996 municipal elections for the ruling centreleft Social Democratic Party, but failed to get elected. The state of Para is known as one of the most violent regions in Brazil. About a week before Gatinho's murder, two farmers were killed, allegedly by the guards of a local landowner.
Country BRAZIL
CASENR: 3
Name: Edgard Lopes de Faria Nationality: Brazilian
Profession: Radio/TV presenter
Newsorgan: Radio Capital /
TV Record
Sector: RADIO / TELEVISION
Date: 29/10/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, RSF
Description: On 29 October, Edgard lopes de Faria, head of the local radio station Capital and presenter on the TV channel TV Record was assassinated at Campo Grande (Capital of the Mato Grosso do Sul region, West Brazil) on his way to the radio station.
Additional: According to Milton Watanabe Tocikavu, the officer in charge of the investigation, Lopes was shot 7 times with a pistolet 7,65 and six times with a carabine calibre 12. The shooting was executed by professionals using German bullets unavailable on the official market. Witnesses saw three or four people shoot Lopes de Faria as he was leaving the boulangerie where he regularly had breakfast.
He was on his way to present the programme, "In the mouth of the People", which he often used to denounce police corruption and the assassins of Mato Grosso, responsible for 71 deaths in 1997 alone. Now 72. Friends of the journalist said this had earned him a number of enemies. He had received several threats by telephone during October. He had also recently talked about a hidden cemetery where the assassins bury their victims.
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Country: CAMBODIA
CASENR: 4
Name: Duong Daravuth
Nationality: Cambodian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Neak Prayuth
Sector: PRESS
Date: 30/03/97
Age: ?
Source: JSS
Description: On 30 March, Duong Daravuth, formally a journalist with the Neak Prayuth, was killed and more than 16 journalists were injured in a grenade attack during a Khmer National Party (KNP) rally outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. In total 11 people were killed and 122 wounded.
Additional: Duong Daravuth had just received permission to publish a new newspaper.
HRW (May, 9, 1997): Sources in Cambodia claim that the Cambodian People's Party, represented by CoPrime Minister Hun Sen is most likely to be behind the attack on the KNP rally.
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Country: CAMBODIA
CASENR: 5
Name: Pich Em
Nationality: Cambodian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Kompong Som Television
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 07/05/97
Age: ?
Source: AP, Reuters
Description: On 7 May, Pich Em, a journalist with the state run station Kompong Som Television, died of his wounds sustained in a grenade attack on 4 May 1997.
Additional: Pich Em was reading the Sunday night news when he was hit by shrapnel during the attack. The seven masked men who perpetrated the attack also wounded another journalist and a guard. Pich Em later died in a local hospital.
A police officer believed the attack to be political. Shortly prior to the attack the station manager, Karang Saran, had refused to broadcast a tape on which CoPremier Norodom Ranariddh's bitter rival, CoPremier Hun Sen was harshly criticised.
Khmer Journalists Association President Pin Samkhon told Reuters that the independent press was under intense pressure as a result of the political tensions in Cambodia. Journalists fear that this may be the first of many such incidents as the 1998 national elections approach. According to Pin Samkhon, few journalists are able to resist the pressure, in the current political climate, to speak on behalf of one of the rival parties.
HRW (May, 9, 1997): Observers in Phnom Penh believe that the attackers may have been encouraged by FUNCINPEC officials. FUNCINPEC, the United National Front of Cambodia, represented by Prime Minister Prince Ranariddh, accused Ieng Mouly, Minister of Information of maintaining tight control over the supposed nonpolitically affiliated Kom Som Television and using it to slander opposition parties and promote CPP policies. CPP, the Cambodian People's Party is represented by CoPrime Mininster Hun Sen.
Several sources have confirmed that as recently as March 97, Prnce Ranariddh has threatened to send tanks to the Ministry of Information if the control over Kompong Som Television was not "corrected." Ranariddh continues to argue that the television station reflects a strong proCPP basis.
Kompong Som Television, a governmentowned broadcasting network with stations throughout the country, has been a common focus of conflict between CPP and FUNCINPEC. According to Kom Som Television regulations, only programs that have been produced by itself or have been approved by the Ministry of Information can be aired.
Country: CAMBODIA
CASENR: 6
Name: Michael Senior
Nationality: Canadian
Profession: Newscaster
Newsorgan: ?
Sector: TV
Date: 7/07/97
Age: 24
Source: TNG Canada,CPJ
Description: On 7 July, Michael Senior, a Canadian national and newscaster for an English-language Cambodian television broadcast, was shot dead by soldiers. He was taking photographs of them at the time of his death. It was the day after the coup.
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Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 7
Name: Freddy Elles
Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Freelance Photographer
Newsorgan: El Espectador / El Heraldo, El Universal
Sector: PRESS
Date: 18/03/97
Age: 38
Source: FIP, CPJ, IAPA, IFEX
Description: On 19 March Freddy Elles was found dead in his car. His handcuffed body had been shot in the head and the heart and stabbed in the neck. There were also signs of torture.
Additional: According to eyewitnesses, he was accosted by three individuals and taken away in his car. The nature of the death suggests this was not a simple case of robbery. It is believed that he was killed for his photography. In 1995 he took prominent photos of police brutality during demonstrations, but there were no reports of recent death threats.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 8
Name: Francisco Castro Menco
Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Journalist / Radio Presenter
Newsorgan: Fundacion Cultural Sector: RADIO
Date: 8/11/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 8 November, Francisco Castro Menco, President of Fundacion Cultural Radio Station, was shot dead by unidentified individuals at his home in Majagual, in the province of Sucre.
Additional: The Fundacion Cultural Radio Station had recently been granted a licence by the Ministry of Communications. He hosted a daily programme on local topics. His relatives believe he was murdered because he used his radio show to call for peace in the violence ridden area of Majagual.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 9
Name: Jairo Elias Marquez
Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: El Marquez
Sector: PRESS
Date: 20/11/97
Age: 40
Source: FIP, CPJ, IAPA
Description: On 20 November, Elias Marquez, director of El Marquez magazine, was murdered by two gunmen whilst entering his car in a downtown street in Armenia.
Additional: Believed to be the work of professional assassins. Marquez had received numerous death threats over the past two years. El Marquez is known for it's critical reporting on corruption.
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Country: El Salvador
CASENR: 10
Name: Maria Lorena Saravia
Nationality: El Salvadorian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Radio Corporacion Salvadorena
Sector: RADIO
Date: 24/08/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, AP, Reuters, CPJ
Description: On 24 August, Maria Lorena Saravia, news reader on Radio Corporacion Salvadorena, died from a gunshot to the back of the head. Last seen alive around 7.10 pm on 24 August leaving the radio station having read the evening news. Her body was found near her home the following afternoon.
Additional: No valuables were taken
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Country: GUATEMALA
CASENR: 11
Name: Jorge Luis Marroquin
Nationality: Guatemalan
Profession: Director
Newsorgan: Sol de Chorti
Sector: Press
Date: 05/06/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, GUJ, IFEX, CPJ
Description: On 5 June, Jorge Luis Marroquin, director of Sol de Chorti, was shot dead by two men whilst out walking with his wife and son, in the town of Jocotan, province of Chiquimila. He was also associate secretary general of Partico de Avanzada Nacional.
Country: GUATEMALA
CASENR: 12
Name: Norman Homero Hernandez Perez
Nationality: Guatemalan
Profession: Newsreader
Newsorgan: Radio Campesina
Sector: Radio
Date: 16/07/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, GUJ, CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 16 July, Hernando Perez, a newsreader at Radio Campesina in Tiquisate, Escuintla, was shot dead along with Haroldo Escobar Noriega, a messenger with the station. They were leaving the radio in the early morning after completing their shift when they were ambushed by a group of heavily armed men who opened fire, killing them instantly.
Country: GUATEMALA
CASENR: 13
Name: Luis Ronaldo de Leon Godoy
Nationality: Guatemalan
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Prensa Libre
Sector: Newspaper
Date: 14/11/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, GUJ, IFEX, CPJ
Description: On 14 November, Ronaldo de Leon, head of weekend supplements with Prensa Libre, was attacked by assassins who had waited for him for over two hours in a parked car near his home at the centre of Guatemala. He died from stab wounds after 3 hours of surgery. Local journalists believe that it is unlikely that robbery was the motivation since neither money nor identity papers were taken
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Country: INDIA
CASENR: 14
Name: Altaf Ahmed Faktoo
Nationality: Indian
Profession: News Reader
Newsorgan: Doordashan Kendra
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 01/01/97
Age: ?
Source: CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 1 January, Altaf Faktoo, a news reader with the stateowned Doordashan Kendra television station in Srinagar, Kashmir, was killed when 3 unidentified men entered the family-run Crown Hotel in Srinagar, shot the journalist twice with a silencer pistol and fled the scene.
Additional: No one claimed responsibility for the assassination but Faktoo had received threats in the past from militant separatists. In 1994, he was kidnapped and briefly detained by a militant group, after which he requested a transfer from the regular news broadcasts to an Urdulanguage programme covering employment issues. He also edited background material for several nonpolitical documentaries. Shortly before his murder he had started reading for a news program about Kashmir broadcast to the rest of India. Faktoo felt safe to do so because the program was not shown in the Kashmir valley, the centre of the separatist movement. Faktoo was the only news reader with Doordashan Kendra who lived without military security cover.
Country: INDIA KASHMIR
CASENR: 15
Name: Syedan Shafi
Nationality: Indian Kashmiri
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Doordarshan
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 16/03/97
Age: 42
Source: CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 16 March, Syedan Shafi, a Kashmiri journalist with India's national television network, Doordarshan, was shot dead in Srinagar by two unidentified gunmen. They shot the security guard first and then shot Shafi in the neck. His mother, who was in the car at the time, was left unharmed.
Additional: Shafi had worked on the weekly news programme Kashmir File, and a nightly news bulletin, Ankhoun Dekhi (Eyewitness). No one has claimed responsibility but Shafi had received death threats for alleged bias against militant separatists.
Shafi and Faktoo were two of a small number of Muslim journalists working for the state owned media. Most others resigned in 1993 after a militant group had warned them against working for the stateowned media. Further resignations followed when a Radio Kashmir news reader was killed by a separatists group.
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Country: INDONESIA
CASENR: 16
Name: Mohammad Sayuti
Nationality: Indonesian
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: Pos Makasar
Sector: PRESS
Date: 12/06/97
Age: 42
Source: AJI, ISAI, IFJ, Reuters
Description: On 12 June, Mohammad Sayuti, a journalist with the Ujungpandangbased newspaper Pos Makasar, died in a hospital in Ujungpandang.
Additional: Sayuti was found by a villager bleeding and unconscious in Luwu (a village close to the provincial city in southern Sulawesi). It is believed that Sayuti was killed for his reports on local corruption.
Andi Tonra Mahie, the editorinchief of Pos Makassar, linked Sayuti's death to his reports on the embezzlement of funds allocated for poverty alleviation in the Malili subdistricts. Sayuti had met the head of the Malili subdistrict several days before he died. According to an ISAI press release, Sayuti, whilst investigating the deforestoration in the Kaya Regency, had uncovered a timber theft operation involving the Kasintuwu village chief.
Police officials insist that Sayuti died in a simple traffic accident. They said he had fallen off his motorbike while trying to avoid a truck. But family members and friends said that Sayuti's bruises and injuries indicated that he had been beaten and there were no marks on his motorbike.
Country: INDONESIA
CASENR: 17
Name: Naimullah
Nationality: Indonesian
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: Sinar Pagi
Sector: PRESS
Date: 25/07/97
Age: 42
Source: AJI, ISAI, IFJ, Reuters
Description: On 25 July, the body of Naimullah, an investigative journalist with Sinar Pagi, was found in the back of his car in Pantia Penibungan.
Additional: According to reports in Media Indonesia and Akcaya, Naimullah had recently reported on timber theft and had been conducting an investigation of illegal logging in Kalimantan.
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Country: IRAN
CASENR: 18
Name: Ebrahim Zalzadeh
Nationality: Iranian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Me'yar
Sector: PRESS
Date: 13/05/97
Age: ?
Source: AI, CPJ, PEN
Description: Ebrahim Zalzadeh, editor of the journal Me'yar (Standard) was reported missing last February. A month later he was found dead in a morgue with multiple stab wounds.
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Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 19
Name: Jesus Bueno Leon
Nationality: Mexican
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: Siete Dias
Sector: PRESS
Date: 26/05/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, Reuters, CPJ, RSF
Description: On 22 May, the body of Jesus Bueno Leon, director of the newspaper Siete Dias, was found shot in the head in the wreckage of his burned out car near Chilpancingo, 120 miles south of Mexico City.
Additional: Leon was one of seven journalists at Siete Dias sued for defamation by former Secretary of State Ruben Robles Catalan over articles published in 1995. The articles had reproduced testimonies accusing Robles of being behind the 26 May 1995 murder by police of lawyer Norberto Flores Banos. Leon also worked as a media advisor for the current governor of Guerrero, Angel Aguirre.
Before his death, Leon had written a letter saying that government officials or progovernment journalists wanted him killed due to his coverage of government corruption. In his letter Leon named Angel Aguirre and Ruben Robles Catalan as wanting him dead. He also named two journalists, one foreign and the other who works for the newspaper El Reportero.
Mexico's National Union of Journalists said two months ago its members had asked Angel Aguirre to protect Leon after the journalist had received death threats. On Friday about 50 journalists marched in the streets of the port of Acapulco protesting the killing and demanding a proper investigation. Members of the Farmer Organisation of Sierra of the South also expressed their outrage.
Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 20
Name: Leonicio Pintor Garcia
Nationality: Mexican
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: El Sol de Chilpancingo
Sector: PRESS
Date: 05/06/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, IFEX
Description: On 1 June , the body of Leonicio Pintor Garcia, correspondent with the El Sol de Chilpancingo was found dead in the Ajotolotero river.
Additional: According to the medical reports, Garcia's body showed signs of torture to the nose, knees and thorax. It was likely that the body had been dragged to and thrown in the river.
Jesus Bueno Leon, director of the weekly Siete Dias, who was killed a week earlier had named Pedro Julio Valdez Vilchis, the owner of El Sol and director of Social Communication for the government of Guerrero, as one of those planning to harm him.
Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 21
Name: Benjamin Flores Gonzalez
Nationality: Mexican
Profession: Investigative Journalism Newsorgan: La Prensa
Sector: Press
Date: 15/07/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, CPJ
Description: On 15 July, Benjamin Flores Gonzalez, editor and owner of the daily La Prensa in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora State, was murdered at 16:30 as he was arriving at the newspaper's offices. As Flores Gonzalez opened the door of his truck, a grey Chevrolet Impala pulled up and a gunman jumped out. After firing an entire clip at Flores Gonzalez, the gunman returned to the Impala and was handed a .22-calibre pistol by an accomplice. He used that weapon to fire three additional rounds into Flores Gonzalez's head as the victim lay prostrate on the ground. The assassin then got back in the car and sped off heading south.There are fears that this murder was related to his aggressive coverage of the drug trade. In May he reported that a half ton of cocaine confiscated by federal authorities had disappeared from Federal Judicial Police Headquarters in San Luis Rio Colorado. According to colleagues, Flores Gonzalez had received many threats and was facing five lawsuits for criminal defamation, some of them due to his coverage of the drug trade.
Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 22
Name: Victor Hernandez Martinez
Nationality: Mexican
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: Como Magazine
Sector: PRESS
Date: 26/07/97
Age: ?
Source: FIP, CPJ
Description: On the morning of 25 July, Hernandez Martinez, journalist with Como magazine, was attacked near the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City. He died the following day in Ruben Lenero Hospital from wounds sustained during the sever beating.
Additional: Colleagues suspect he may have been killed by federal agents working for the judiciary, or individuals close to the police. Hernandez often covered stories on drug trafficking and police corruption. The target of previous threats, he had recently been tailed whilst driving through Mexico city and had a Molotov cocktail thrown at him.
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Country: PAKISTAN
CASENR: 23
Name: Z.A. Shahid
Nationality: Pakistani
Profession: Press photographer
Newsorgan: Khabrain
Sector: PHOTOGRAPHY
Date: 18/01/97
Age: ?
Source: PPF, IFEX
Description: On 18 January, Shahid, a photographer for the Urdulanguage daily Khabrain, was killed by a bomb blast in Lahore. Shahid had recently joined Khabrain, but also worked for the Urdu dailies Mussawat and Sadaqat.
Additional: The bomb was concealed in a parked motorcycle on the premises of the overcrowded Sessions Court and succeeded in killing 19 people and injuring over 80. Leaders of Sipah Sahabe Pakistan (SSP) an antiShiite religiouspolitical party were the intended targets. They were being brought from jail to the court for a hearing at the time. SSP PatroninChief Malauna Ziaur Rehman was killed and Chief Malauna Azam Tariq was critically injured.
Country: PAKISTAN
CASENR: 24
Name: Shamsuddin Haider
Nationality: Pakistani
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Radio Pakistan
Sector: RADIO
Date: 11/06/97
Age: ?
Source: RSF, IFEX
Description: On 9 June, Shamsuddin Haider, a programme producer with the staterun Radio Pakistan, was shot dead in his home by two gunmen in the southern Punjab town of Bahawalpur.
Additional: Haider had received several threatening phone calls about radio programmes broadcast by the radio station during the Shi'ite commemorative festival the month before.
Country: PAKISTAN
CASENR: 25
Name: Manzar Imkani
Nationality: Pakistani
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Jang
Sector: PRESS
Date: 19/06/97
Age: 49
Source: Reuters
Description: On 19 June, Kamran Rizvi, a leader of the breakaway Haqiqi faction of the ethnic Mohajir National Movement (MQM) was visiting his friend Manzar Imkani, senior subeditor at the Urdulanguage Jang newspaper when they were attacked by gunmen. Imkani died instantly while Rizvi was seriously wounded.
Additional: A Haqiqi spokesman accused the mainstream MQM of carrying out the attack. MQM officials denied responsibility.
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Country: PERU
CASENR: 26
Name: Tito Pilco Mori
Nationality: Peruvian
Profession: Director of Radio Frecuencia Popular
Newsorgan: Host of Opinion Libre
Sector: RADIO
Date: 30/08/97
Age: ?
Source: ANP
Description: On 30 August, Tito Pilco Mori left his office to pick up daily papers and never returned. His body was found the following day. He died from injuries to his head and chest.
Additional: Four Individuals were reportedly heard saying they were going to shut him up on 28 August. According to a witness his attackers arrived in a white unlicensed car and found him in front of the Saint Toribio School.
Country: PERU
CASENR: 27
Name: Eduardo Parado Samaniego
Nationality: Peruvian
Profession: Radio Presenter
Newsorgan: Host Radio Marginal, El Muno en 60 Minutes
Sector: RADIO
Date: 15/10/97
Age: 28
Source: ANP
Description: On 14 October, Samaniego set off with a local patrol in search of terrorists near Sonomore de Palomar. He was killed by the terrorists
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Country: PHILIPPINES
CASENR: 28
Name: Danny Hernandez
Nationality: Philippine
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: People's Journal Tonight
Sector: PRESS
Date: 03/06/97
Age: 52
Source: Reuters, IPI, IFJ
Description: On Tuesday morning 3 June, Danny Hernandez, news editor with the daily People's Journal Tonight and the author of a regular column called Sunday Punch was found shot dead in a taxi in a Manila suburb.
Additional: According to the police, Hernandez had left the newspaper offices just before dawn and taken a taxi that was stolen and apparently waiting for him. Hernandez specialised in exposing crime syndicates and police corruption. He had reportedly received several dead threats because of his columns.
In his last column, Hernandez accused police officials of having ties with robbery and kidnapping groups. He also wrote of alleged payoffs to police officials by crime syndicates and had criticised an alleged gambling lord.
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Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 29
Name: Nikolai Lapin
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Editor in Chief
Newsorgan: Obosveni
Sector: PRESS
Date: 13/01/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: City of Tolyatti
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 30
Name: Alexei Eldasheu
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: ?
Sector: PRESS
Date: 15/01/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: City of Khabarousk
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 31
Name: Yuri Baldin
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Editor
Newsorgan: Focus TV
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 03/02/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 32
Name: Vyackeslau Zvonaiw
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Editor
Newsorgan: Tact TV
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 12/02/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: City of Kursk
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 33
Name: Vadim Biryukov
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Deputy Director- General
Newsorgan: Delovye Lyudi (Business People)
Sector: PRESS
Date: 25/02/97
Age: 64
Source: JUR
Description: City of Moscow
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 34
Name: Antonina Lukina
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Editor
Newsorgan: Don TV Channel
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 04/03/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 35
Name: Vladimir Alieu
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Correspondent
Newsorgan: Kabardino Balkan Radio
Sector: RADIO
Date: 23/03/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: Town of Prokhladnee
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 36
Name: Valery Krivosheyev Nationality: Russian
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: Komsomolskaya Pravda
Sector: PRESS
Date: 06/09/97
Age: ?
Source: CPJ
Description: On 6 September, Valery Krivosheyev, journalist with Komsomolskaya Pravda, was found dead at 6:45 am, near the Kosmos theatre in Lipetsk not far from the coffee shop he frequently met his sources in. He died as a result of skull trauma.
Additional: Colleagues at Komsomolsaya Pravda and the Glasnost Defense Foundation Chernozem Regional Office claimed his death was related to his investigative journalism. The day before his death Krivosheyev told colleagues at De Fakto; (a local Lipetsk daily) that he had a meeting with a source on a story he described as "a bombshell of national proportions", adding "if I can get him to talk, it will be really something!" On 3 September Komsomology Pravda ran a satirical piece of his on Mikhail Telkov; a local politician.
In the past he had exposed the building of villas in a nature reserve on the Don River by Alexander Korzhakov, a former bodyguard of Boris Yeltsin.
Police are questioning a subject identified as Oleg M. who a waiter from the coffee shop saw strike Krivosheyev in a dispute before leaving.
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Country: RWANDA
CASENR: 37
Name: Appolos Hakizimana
Nationality: Rwandan
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Intego
Sector: PRESS
Date: 06/05/97
Age: ?
Source: AI
Description: On 27 April 1997 Appolos Hakizimana, a journalist with Intego, was shot dead by two gunmen in the Nyamirambo suburb of the capital, Kigali.
Additional: Hakizamana was previously arrested on 30 July 1996 and accused by Rwandese authorities of being a member of the interahamwe after writing articles in the newspaper Intego. After his release on 19 August 1996 he recieved several death threats. In January 1997 Hakizamana started a new newspaper, Umuravumba, whose third edition was seized in March 1997 by the Procuracy. The edition contained a report of massacres by the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA).
Journalists working for Intego have been subjected to human rights violations because of its critical editorial line. Intego is the successor of the independent newspaper Le Messager, which was closed and forced to change its name following pressure from the military authorities.
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Country: SIERRA LEONE
CASENR: 38
Name: Ishmael Jalloh
Nationality: Sierra Leonean
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Punch, Storm
Sector: PRESS
Date: 11/06/97
Age: ?
Source: CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 3 June, Ishmael Jalloh, a freelance journalist for a number of independent newspapers including Punch, Storm and Vision, died in Allentown (East of Freetown) during a battle between a combined battalion of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Sierra Leone Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) soldiers against Nigerian ECOMOG soldiers.
Additional: Jalloh died from his wounds after being hit by a rocketpropelled grenade while covering the fighting. The following day, Jalloh was recognised by a colleague when the dead bodies were being removed from the beach by an AFRC truck. It is believed he was buried in a mass grave in Allentown on 4 June.
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Country: UKRAINE
CASENR: 39
Name: Pyotr Shevchenko
Nationality: Ukrainian
Profession: Investigative Journalism
Newsorgan: Kievskiye Vedomosti
Sector: Press
Date: 13/03/97
Age: ?
Source: CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 13 March at approximately 7:00pm, the body of Pyotr Shevchenko, Lugansk regional correspondent for the daily Kievskiye Vedomosti, was found hanging in an abandoned building in Kiev. Shevchenko had recently co-authored a series of articles about disputes between the mayor of Lugansk and the local branch of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), successors to the KGB.
According to colleagues, Shevchenko called the editorial offices of Kievskiye Vedomosti in early March to express his fear of reprisal from the SBU in Lugansk, a town of thriving privatisation ventures near the Russian border about 700 kilometres from Kiev. In late February, local SBU officers held a press conference in Lugansk to accuse the Kievskiye Vedomosti of bias.
An editor of Kievskiye Vedomosti said that Shevchenko had arrived in Kiev by train on 12 March at 9:00 am and was met by the newspaper's messenger. He did not pass anything on to the courier and said he planned to be in the editorial offices later that day. Although Shevchenko was supposed to be staying with friends in Kiev, as far as is known, he did not make any phone calls to them or to colleagues at the paper and there is no trace of his movements. His body was found on the evening of 13 March near an empty boiler room in an abandoned building by playing children. Police said the death had occurred that morning. There were no apparent signs of struggle, and cash and valuables were found on the body.
The editorial board of Kievskiye Vedomosti, other Ukrainian journalists and a local press freedom group fear that Shevchenko's death was not suicide but murder. At a press conference in Kiev on 14 March, journalists called upon President Leonid Kuchma to personally investigate the death of Shevchenko and any other unexplained journalist deaths in the Ukraine in recent years. The Ukrainian reporters also said that the prosecutor's office, which has opened an investigation into the hanging, claimed to have found a suicide note from Shevchenko containing a farewell to his family and an indication that he was under pressure from the SBU. However, Shevchenko's colleagues have not been able to see the note and cannot confirm its existence or its contents.
Kievskiye Vedomosti editors believe that they objectively covered recent disputes between Lugansk Mayor Alexei Danilov, a young, reform-minded former businessman, and the local department of the SBU. The newspaper, a popular tabloid frequently featuring crime and political scandals, said it also reported incidents of harassment of Danilov allegedly by the SBU.
Country: UKRAINE
CASENR: 40
Name: Boris Derevyanko
Nationality: Ukrainian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Vechernyaya Odessa (Evening Odessa)
Sector: Press
Date: 11/08/97
Age: ?
Source: CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 11 August, Boris Derevyanko, editor-in-chief of Vechernyaya Odessa, was attacked between 8.00 and 9.00am on his way to work not far from the Press House where his editorial offices are located. He was shot in the heart and stomach, from point blank range. The Chief Regional Prosecutor, Vasily Ivanov, has launched an official investigation into the possibility of a contract killing. Ruslan Bodelan, Governor of Odessa Region described the murder as "an act of political terror".
Additional: Colleagues believe the killing was related to the newspapers opposition to the city council. With a left of centre editorial position it has been particularly critical of the Mayor of Odessa, Eduard Gurvits. Derevyanko was also deputy to the city council. Several journalists with the paper have been attacked in the past. Sergei Lebedev was lucky to survive three shots by an attacker who received only 18 months for the attempted murder. Vitaliy Chechik was assaulted in 1996 and 1997 with the attacker warning him to stop writing articles on the mayor.
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Number of Incidents - 40
Cases of Mediaworkers Killed
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 1
Name: Zoubida Barkat Nationality: Algerian
Profession: Television technician
Newsorgan: Télévision Nationale Algérienne
Sector: Technician
Date: 30/08/97
Age: 27
Source: IFJ Algiers, Reuters
Description: On 30 August, Zoubida Barkat, was assassinated around 18.00 hours near the forest of Bouchaoui, a dozen kilometres West of Algiers.
Additional: The bodies of two friends of his were also found there.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 2
Name: Louisa Ait-Adda
Nationality: Algerian
Profession: Camerwoman
Newsorgan: Algerian State TV
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 26/06/97
Age: ?
Source: IFJ Algiers, JSS, RSF, DPA
Description: Louisa Ait-Adda, a camerwoman with the Algerian state TV was killed by an armed group in front of her home.
Additional: According to Le Matin she had told colleagues that she suspected a group of young people wanted to kill her.
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Country: INDIA
CASENR: 3 - 7
Name: Rajasekhar,
Name: Srinivas,
Name: S.Krishna,
Name: Gangadhar Raju
Name: Jagadish Babu
Nationality: Indian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Eenadu
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 19/11/97
Ages: ?
Source: JSS, NUJ India, RSF
Description: On 19 November, all five journalists, members of the Eenadu TV crew, were killed in a bomb blast as they were travelling to report on the shooting of a new film. The intended target was probably the film producer and former Labour Minister Mr Paritala Ravindra, who was following in the car behind.
Total Media Workers Killed - 7
Cases Under Investigation
Country: BOSNIA- HERZEGOVINA
CASENR: 1
Name: Milorad Ostojic Nationality: Serbian Bosnian
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: Alternative Infomativna Mreza (AIM)
Sector: PRESS
Date: 08/11/97
Age: 47
Source: RSF
Description: On 28 October Milorad Ostojic, correspondent with AIM suffered a brain haemorrhage, went into a coma on 2 November, and died in a Belgrade hospital on 8 November.
Additional: The IPTF (International Police Training Force), issued a statement indicating "the possible violent death" of Ostojic. During the September municipal election campaign he was threatened and harassed after writing articles critical of the local authorities in Teslic. Several other AIM journalists claim to have received threats from local authorities stating they could face a similar fate as Ostojic if they continued their journalistic work.
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Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 2
Name: Santiago Rodriguez Villar
Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: ?
Sector: PRESS
Date: 20/02/97
Age: 43
Source: FIP, Reuters
Description: On 20 February, Rodriguez Villar, the head of a local government press office, was killed by unidentified gunmen early on 20 February.
Additional: The murder took place in Sincelejo, the capital of the northern Sucre province. Two men dragged Rodriguez Villar out of his house and shot him in the head three times before escaping on a motorbike.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 3
Name: Gerardo Bedoya Borrero
Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: El Pais
Sector: PRESS
Date: 20/03/97
Age: 55
Source: FIP, IAPA, IFEX
Description: On 20 March, Bedoya Borrero, a journalist with El Pais, was shot five times at point blank range by a gunman as he was leaving an apartment complex in Cali around 8:00 pm. Bedoya was a strong critic of the drug cartels and in favour of a proposed extradition treaty between Colombia and the USA .
Additional: Associated Press (270597): Two months after the killing authorities claimed that investigations suggested that it wasn't the work of the Cali drug Cartel but that other explanations were being examined. Bedoya is reputed to have had several girlfriends. He was also wealthy and extortion is not uncommon in Columbia.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 4
Name: Alejandro Jaramillo Nationality: Colombian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Dario del Sur
Sector: PRESS
Date: 01/11/97
Age: 67
Source: FIP, CPJ
Description: On 1 November, the dismembered body of the investigative journalist Alejandro Jaramillo was found in the town of Pasto. Jaramillo, who was deputy editor of Diario del Sur, the main newspaper in Pasto disappeared on 24 October. It is not yet known if the journalist had been threatened recently or if he had any enemies.
Additional: Jaramillo also worked for the Cali newspapers El Pais, El Caleno and Occidente. The case is under investigation.
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Country: GUATEMALA
CASENR: 5
Name: José Pedro Pérez Rosales
Nationality: Guatemalan
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: Parliament Union of Journalists
Sector:
Date: 15/03/97
Age: 48
Source: FIP, GUJ
Description: On 14 March, Perez Rosales, journalist at the Parliament Union of Journalists, disappeared and his body was found the following day.
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Country: KAZAKHSTAN
CASENR: 6
Name: Christopher Gehring
Nationality: USA
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: Director of Internews Operations, Central Asia
Sector: PRESS
Date: 09/01/97
Age: 28
Source: Reuters, CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 9 January, Christopher Gehring, director of Internews Operations in Central Asia and the office in Almaty, was found tied up in his apartment with his throat slit.
Additional: Chief Detective Alibek Shapenov of the Almaty police said the murder appeared to be the result of a burglary. Persephone Miel, Internews Director of training in the CIS said there was no evidence that this was connected with his work.
Internews is a Non-profit organisation working to promote independent media in the former Soviet Union. Gehring, a correspondent and producer, had directed Internews operations in Almaty since 1995.
The case remains unsolved.
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Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 7
Name: Rafael Perez Ayala
Nationality: Mexican
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Excelsior
Sector: PRESS
Date: 25/10/97
Age: 62
Source: FIP, CPJ, IFEX
Description: On 25 October, the body of Perez Ayala, journalist with the Excelsior, was found in the trunk of his car in Tlalnepantla. Perez had disappeared on 20 October after attending a meeting in Mexico City. The autopsy revealed that he died from asphyxiation.
Additional: Perez also worked for Latin World and La Voz de Michoacan.
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Country: NAMIBIA
CASENR: 8
Name: Peterkings Nkhoma
Nationality: Namibian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: State Press Agency
Sector: PRESS
Date: 04/10/97
Age: 24
Source: MISA
Description: On 4 October, Peterkings Nkhoma, a journalist with the Namibia Press Agency was reportedly knocked down by a police car and killed instantly. However, investigations by a local paper indicate that the Nkhoma was left to die on the road, implying deliberate murder.
Additional: Nkhoma died along the Katima Mulilo-Rundu main road from multiple injuries. He was a regional reporter in Caprivi, the north of Namibia.
Investigations into his death continue.
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Country: PERU
CASENR: 9
Name: Miguel Bravo Quispe
Nationality: Peruvian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: El Comercio
Sector: PRESS
Date: 07/01/97
Age: 30
Source: ANP, IPYS, IFEX
Description: On 7 January, Bravo Quispe, vicepresident of the Pasco College of Journalists and correspondent with the daily El Comercio, was killed.
Additional: Bravo's body was found with a bullet wound in the heart. He was apparently murdered in the barrio of Buenos Aires, near Lake Uanamate. Bravo was also the mayor of the district of Yanancancha, 8 km. from Cerro de Pasco. No motives have been found for the murder.
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Country: PERU
CASENR: 10
Name: Felipe Palomino Caychihua
Nationality: Peruvian
Profession: Journalism
Newsorgan: Expreso
Sector: Press
Date: 2/02/97
Age: 42
Source: ANP, FIP
Description: On 2 February, Felipe Palomino Caychihua, journalist with Expreso, was beaten to death on a bus. The driver of the bus claimed that Mr Caychihua didn't want to pay his fare and after a quarrel over the fare he jumped out the window. According to his family, however, it would be physically impossible for a person to go through the windows on that kind of rural bus.
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Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 11
Name: Valentin Karkautreu
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Correspondent
Newsorgan: Komsometskaya Pravda
Sector: PRESS
Date: 01/04/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: Tver Region
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 12
Name: Inessa Dotenko
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: 2x2 TV Channel
Sector: TELEVISION
Date: 21/06/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 13
Name: Manuk Zhazhoyan
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Correspondent
Newsorgan: Russkaya Mysl
Sector: PRESS
Date: 30/06/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: St Petersburgh
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 14
Name: Lidia Lazarenko
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Editor
Newsorgan: Birsha newspaper
Sector: PRESS
Date: 06/10/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: Town of Dzenzkinsk
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 15
Name: Sergei Chekalin
Nationality: Russian
Profession: Journalist
Newsorgan: Azouski Krai
Sector: PRESS
Date: 23/10/97
Age: ?
Source: JUR
Description: City of Rostov
Total Cases Under Investigation - 15
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Sources
AJI = Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia) - IFJ Member
AI = Amnesty International
ANP = Associación Nacional de Periodista del Peru - IFJ Member
CPJ = Committee to Protect Journalists, USA
IAPA = Inter American Press Association
IPI = International Press Institute, Vienna
FATPREN = Federación Argentina de Trabajadores de Prensa, (Argentina) - IFJ Member
FIP = IFJ Latin America Office, Caracas
GUJ = Guatemalan Union of Journalists - IFJ Member
HRW = Human Rights Watch
IFEX = International Freedom of Expression Exchange
IFJ Algiers = IFJ Algeria Centre for Media Solidarity, Algiers
IPYS = Institute for Press and Society, Peru
ISAI = Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information, Indonesia
JUR = Journalists Union of Russia - IFJ Member
KAMMPI = Federation of Mediaworkers of the Philippines
MEAA = Media and Entertainment Arts Alliance (Australia) - IFJ Member
MISA = Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zambia
NUJ India = National Union of Journalists, India - IFJ Member
PPF = Pakistan Press Foundation
RSF = Reporters Sans Frontières, France
TNG Canada = The Newspaper Guild (Canada) - IFJ Member
Wire Services
AP
DPA
REUTERS
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