INTRODUCTION
In a year marked by regional conflict, war and civil disorder the IFJ has counted the killing of at least 60 journalists, all of whom died in the line of duty. The IFJ is investigating a further 4 murders and cases of journalists missing.
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 in Latin America and the countries of the former Soviet Union, it is difficult even to find the specific motive for a killing. In some areas the appalling failure of official investigation, in Russia for instance, leads us to include all cases of violent death unless information is provided to the contrary.
What is certain beyond doubt, is that 1995 has been another tragic year for media freedom. Figures for 1994 were higher, but were distorted by the heavy killings of journalists during the genocide carried out in Rwanda.
There is no doubt that more must be done to highlight the dangers facing professional journalists. For that reason the IFJ launched a new service in 1994 -- the Journalists' Safety Service -- to provide support for journalists and their unions. For information about the service contact the IFJ in Brussels.
Country By Country Analysis
(JK=Journalists killed)
(UI/M = Under investigation or missing)
(MSK=Media Staff Killed)
Algeria 24(JK) 6(MSK)
Angola 1(JK) 1(UI/M)
Azerbaijan 1(JK)
Bosnia 3(JK)
Brazil 4(JK)
Burundi 2(JK)
Canada 1(JK)
Colombia 3(JK)
Dominican Republic 1(UI/M)
Guatemala 1(JK)
India 1(JK)
Mexico 1(JK)
Russia 8(JK)
Rwanda 1(UI/M)
Somalia 1(JK)
Sri Lanka 3(JK)
Tajikistan 1(JK)
Thailand 1(UI/M)
Tunisia 1(JK)
Turkey 2(JK)
Uganda 1(JK)
Ukraine 1(JK)
United Kingdom 1(JK)
TOTALS 61(JK) 4(UI/M) 6(MSK)
In addition there have been 3 reported cases of journalists violently killed while on assignments in accidental circumstances.
NOTE: FIGURES CORRECT UP TO DECEMBER 31 1995
IFJ Killed List 1995
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 journalists 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 Royale
1210 Brussels
Belgium
Phone: +32 2 223 22 65
Fax: +32 2 219 29 76
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR 1.
name: Zineddine Aliou Salah
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Liberté
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 06/01/95
age: 35
source: Reuter /AP
description: Salah, an investigative reporter with "Liberté", the main Frenchlanguage newspaper in Algiers, was shot dead by suspected Muslim fundamentalists on January 6 1995, in the town of Blida, south of Algiers, where he lived.
Additional: Salah was killed by two unknown individuals as he was leaving home. Salah had been receiving death threats from the Islamic Salvation Army and he knew his safety was in danger as his name was on a list displayed at all mosques in Blida.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 2.
name: Ali Abboud
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Channel 1
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 07/01/95
age: 38
source: AP
description: Abboud, director of the Arabiclanguage service of the radio station "Channel 1", died in hospital on January 7 1995, from wounds received the day before when he was shot in the head by suspected Muslim fundamentalists near his home in Birkhadem in the suburbs of Algiers.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 3.
name: Abdelhamid Yahiaoui
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: El Chaab
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 12/01/95
age: 33
source: Reuter
description: Yahiaoui, a journalist with the governmentcontrolled newspaper "El Chaab", was abducted by suspected Muslim fundamentalists, on January 12 1995, and found dead the following day, January 13.
Additional: Yahiaoui's body was found some 100 metres away from his home with two bullets in the head. He had been abducted after leaving home to meet a friend. His colleagues at the newspaper said that Yahiaoui had been talking to them about being killed. Yahiaoui reportedly said he hoped "to die without suffering."
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 4.
name: Ouari
Nasser
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 01/02/95
age: ?
source: Reuter/AP
description: Nasser, a journalist for the national television network "ENTV", was killed, on February 1 1995, by two unknown individuals in the town of Sisi Moussa, south of Algiers.
Additional: Nobody claimed responsibility for the killing. However, the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), the most violent group, issued a threat against television and radio journalists in January 1995. One of Nasser's colleagues said that the assassins were armed with hunting rifles and killed him as he was leaving home for work. Nasser produced a weekly television programme for deaf viewers.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 5.
name: Djamel
Ziater
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: El
Djoumhouria
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 17/02/95
age: 35
source: Reuter/UPI
description: Ziater, a journalist for the staterun regional newspaper in western Algeria "El Djoumhouria", was shot dead by unknown assailants while he was visiting his mother's grave at the cemetery of Gdiel, some 20 km from the city of Oran, on February 17 1995.
Additional: Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack. Ziater had been working for "El Djoumhouria" since 1986.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 6.
name: Ali Boukerbache
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: MediaTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 21/03/95
age: 53
source: AP/Reuter
description: Boukerbache, owner of the private television production company "MediaTV" and former journalist for the "El Djembouria" newspaper, was shot dead by suspected Muslim fundamentalists on March 21, 1995 as he was driving in Rouiba industrial city, some 20 km east of Algiers, where his company was situated.
Additional: Boukerbache had recently made a documentary on women and terrorism.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 7.
name: Mohamed Abderrahmani
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: El Moudjahid
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 27/03/95
age: 57
source: AP/Reuter
description: Abderrahmani, editor of Algeria's oldest newspaper "El Moudjahid", was shot dead in Algiers by suspected Islamic fundamentalists whilst going to work on March 27, 1995.
Additional: The gunmen escaped in a waiting car. The murder took place at a crossroads in the Ruisseau area, southern Algiers, near the Muslim fundamentalist stronghold of Kouba. A few days earlier, Abderrahmani had expressed his fear of being killed by fundamentalists in a television programme. "Like everyone, I feel threatened. I consider myself a target," he said. "The world must be made aware of this drama." Abderrahmani was critical of the Islamic fundamentalists and called them the "Khmer Green", an allusion to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge guerrillas and the green colour adopted as a symbol by the Islamic radicals. Algerian newspaper editors said they would publish a joint edition on March 28 in Abderrahmani's memory. The Frenchlanguage governmentcontrolled "El Moudjahid" was launched during the independence war with France that ended in 1962.
AP (March 29, 1995): Abderrahmani was killed because he was a "miscreant", according to a leaflet by the Armed Islamic Group circulated in Algiers on March 29, 1995.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 8.
name: Rachida Hammadi
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 31/03/95
age: 32
source: AP/UPI/Reuter
description: Hammadi, a wellknown television reporter for the staterun television station "ENTV", was seriously wounded, on March 20 1995, by suspected Muslim fundamentalists in Algiers when she was going to work.
Additional: Hammadi and her sister Houria, a secretary at the TV station, were attacked outside their apartment complex as they were being picked up by a car from "ENTV". Her sister was shot dead. Reportedly, the assailants fled by car. Nobody claimed responsibility for this first attack against a female journalist. However, the international Arabiclanguage newspaper "Al Hayat" reported that a day earlier the Armed Islamic Group had distributed statements in residential areas threatening attacks on journalists. They warned of "vengeance after their compromises with the power in their coverage of bloody events at the Serkadji Prison." Hammadi and her sister lived in the Ben Aknoun area where many police families live as it is close to Algiers' police academy.
Reuter (March 21, 1995): Hammadi was fighting for her life on March 21 after doctors had removed two bullets from her body. Hammadi was in the intensive care ward of the army hospital in Algiers. Reports indicated that since the fundamentalists had threatened journalists, she had moved from home to live with hundreds of colleagues in a heavily guarded area in the capital's coastal suburb of SidiFerdj. However, the night before the attack she stayed at her family's home in Algier's working class suburb of Chevalley.
Reuter (March 31, 1995): Hammadi died from her wounds on March 31 1995, in a Paris hospital where she had been transported on March 26. Rachida, the first female journalist killed by Muslim extremists, was a wellrespected journalist with "ENTV". The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed responsibility for the attack against her in its bulletin "Al Ansar". Rachida was buried on April 2, 1995 in Beni Messous cemetery near her sister, who was also gunned down by the GIA.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 9.
name: Makhlouf Boukhezar
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 04/04/95
age: 51
source: AP\UPI
description: Boukhezar, a sports journalist for the Algerian public television network "ENTV", was found dead in the trunk of his car on April 4 1995, in the eastern city of Constantine, where he lived.
Additional: Boukhezar was kidnapped by alleged Muslim extremists who slashed his throat and hid his body. Boukhezar, who had been working for "ENTV" for fifteen years, had been abducted from his home several hours earlier by armed men dressed in police uniforms.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 10.
name: Azzedine Saidj
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: El Ouma
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 15/05/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (CPJ)
description: Saidj, editorinchief of the defunct independent weekly "El Ouma", was found dead in his car on May 15 1995, some 15 km east of Algiers.
Additional: His throat had been slit. No group claimed responsibility for the murder.
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Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 11.
name: Bakhti Benaouda
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: elJoumhouriya
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 21/05/95
age: 34
source: AP/UPI
description: Benaouda, a journalist for the governmentcontrolled newspaper "elJoumhouriya", writer and University lecturer, was killed by two suspected Islamic fundamentalists on May 21 1995, in the Western city of Oran.
Additional: According to witnesses, two men shot him at pointblank range. Benaouda had also been the editorinchief of Oran University's newspaper and wrote for many Algerian and foreign magazines.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 12.
name: Malika Sabour
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Echourouk al Arabi
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 21/05/95
age: 22
source: Reuter
description: Sabour, a female journalist with the biggest Arablanguage weekly "Echourouk al Arabi", was killed on May 21, 1995 by suspected fundamentalist guerrillas.
Additional: Sabour was killed inside her home in the Djaafria suburb of Reghaia, some 25 km east of Algiers. The official news agency APS did not say how she was killed.
IFEX (RSF)(May 22, 1995): Reportedly, the assailants went to Sabour's home after midnight pretending to be policemen. Sabour was killed in front of her family.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 13.
name: Mourad Hamazia
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 27/05/95
age: 30
source: AP/Reuter
description: Hamazia, a journalist with Algeria's state television "ENTV", was killed on May 27 1995, by suspected Muslim fundamentalists in the Algier's suburb of Baraki.
Additional: Reportedly, Hamazia was gunned down at a crossroads when the assailants attacked the car taking him home from the television headquarters in the centre of Algiers.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 14.
name: Ahmed Takouchet
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Cirta
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 18/06/95
age: 30
source: AP/Reuter
description: Takouchet, alias Hakim, a journalist at the local radio station "Cirta" in the eastern city of Constantine, was found dead on June 18, 1995 with his throat slit.
Additional: Takouchet had been kidnapped the previous night from his home by four alleged Muslim fundamentalists.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 15.
name: Naima Hamouda
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Revolution africaine
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 02/08/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (CPJ)
description: Hamouda, a cultural reporter with the weekly "Revolution africaine", was found dead on August 2 1995, near an apartment building in the Algiers suburb of Saoula where she had been staying.
Additional: Hamouda, who had been shot dead and severely disfigured, could not be correctly identified until 11 August. Hamouda had formerly worked with "Le Matin" and "L'Hebdo Libéré."
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 16.
name: Ameur Ouagueni
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Le Matin
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 21/08/95
age: 36
source: AP/Reuter
description: Ouagueni, head of the international news section at the Frenchlanguage daily "Le Matin", died in Algier's military hospital on August 21 1995, after being shot the day before in the residential neighbourhood of ElBiar.
Additional: No group claimed responsibility for the murder, but the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) was believed to be behind the attack.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 17.
name: Brahim Garoui
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: El Moudjahid
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 02/09/95
age: 40
source: AP/Reuter
description: Garoui, nicknamed Gebe, a political cartoonist for the government-owned newspaper "El Moudjahid", was found dead on September 4 1995, after gunmen had kidnapped him from his home two days earlier.
Additional: Garoui lived in the eastern suburb of Eucalyptus.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 18.
name: Said Tarzout
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Le Matin
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 03/09/95
age: 32
source: AP
description: Tarzout, a reporter for the Frenchlanguage daily "Le Matin", was gunned down on September 3 1995, near his home in TiziOuzou, the capital of the Kabyle region.
Additional: Sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Tarzout died of numerous gunshots to the head. Nobody claimed responsibility for the murder, but suspicions fell on Muslim fundamentalists.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 19.
name: Yasmina Brikh
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: RadioCulture
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 04/09/95
age: ?
source: AP/Reuter
description: Brikh, a female journalist with the Algerian cultural radio station "RadioCulture", was gunned down by suspected Muslim fundamentalists on September 4 1995, in the eastern Algiers suburb of Eucalyptus.
Additional: The Eucalyptus area is considered to be a rebel stronghold. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack. Brikh was the third journalist killed in less than 48 hours.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 20.
name: Said Brahimi
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 08/09/95
age: 35
source: AP/Reuter/DPA
description: Brahimi, a journalist with the staterun television station "ENTV", was gunned down by alleged Muslim fundamentalists on September 8 1995, along with his wife Radja, a 25yearold technician at the station.
Additional: Brahimi and his wife were shot dead in their car in Cherarda village, some 75 km east of Algiers, in the region of Dellys, a bastion of Muslim fundamentalists. They were on their way to visit Brahimi's parents when they were killed. Reportedly the Islamic Armed Group (GIA) issued an ultimatum to journalists to leave their work by September 15 "before it is too late."
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Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 21.
name: Omar Ouartilan
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: AlKhabar
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 03/10/95
age: 36
source: Reuter/AP
description: Ouartilan, editor of Algeria's main Arabic language newspaper "AlKhabar", was shot dead by unknown assailants on October 3 1995, in Algiers while he was on his way to work.
Additional: Ouartilan was attacked when he was leaving his home in Belcourt district, a bastion of Islamic fundamentalists, to go to the newspaper's offices. Ouartilan's colleagues said that he had received death threats but refused to change his habits. "AlKhabar", which is privately owned, printed more than 100,000 copies daily.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 22.
name: Saida Djebaili
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: AlHayat alArabia
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 16/10/95
age: 27
source: Reuter
description: Djebaili, a female journalist with the Arabiclanguage daily "AlHayat alArabia", was shot dead on October 16 1995, while driving through a suburb close to central Algiers.
Additional: Djebaili's driver, 23yearold Lazhari Ahmed Mustapha, was also shot dead in the attack. Nobody claimed responsibility for the murders.
AP (October 17, 1995): Djebaili was shot numerous times in the head with automatic weapons.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 23.
name: Hamid Mahiout
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Liberté
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 02/12/95
age: 45
source: AP/Reuter
description: Mahiout, a journalist for the French-language daily newspaper "Liberté", was kidnapped and killed along with his driver, Ahmed Benkherfallah, by suspected Muslim fundamentalists on December 2, 1995.
Additional: The bodies of Mahiout and his driver were found the following morning with their throats slit, in the Rais Hamidou neighbourhood of western Algiers. No one claimed responsibility for the murders. Mahiout's newspaper "Liberté" is close to the small and secular opposition party Rally for Culture and Democracy. "Reuters" news agency stated that Mahiout's killing came after the government of the newly-elected President Liamine Zeroual was planning to start a media campaign to split grassroot militants from hard-core fundamentalists by offering clemency and reduced jail sentences if they surrendered to the authorities. Journalists expressed no surprise at the killing. "Well-informed observers knew that as long as armed individuals were still on the run the attacks will continue," said "La Tribune" newspaper.
-Reuter (November 5, 1995): Mahiout and his driver were kidnapped, tortured and beheaded in Sidi el Kebir, a suburb in the northwest of Algiers, where the journalist lived with his wife and two children. Their bodies were dumped metres away from their burnt out car.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 24.
name: Khadidja Dahmani
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Echourouk el-Arabi
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 05/12/95
age: 28
source: Reuter
description: Dahmani, a female journalist with the mass circulation Arabic-language weekly "Echourouk el-Arabi", was reportedly gunned down by two Islamic fundamentalists as she went to work on December 5, 1995.
Additional: Dahmani was killed near her home in the Baraki neighbourhood, a fundamentalist stronghold in the South of the capital, Algiers. According to witnesses, she was shot twice in the head as she headed to the bus station near her home.
Country: ANGOLA
CASENR: 25.
name: Ricardo De Mello
nationality: Angolan
newsorgan: Imparcial Fax
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 18/01/95
age: ?
source: Reuter
description: De Mello, director of the outspoken daily newsletter "Imparcial Fax", was shot dead by unknown assailants in the early hours of January 18 1995, in Luanda, where he lived.
Additional: De Mello, who had previously received death threats, was shot in his face on the stairs of his apartment. Angola's Union of Journalists condemned the assassination and said that it was politically motivated. "The barbarous and premeditated assassination of the director of Imparcial Fax shows the movement from threats to systematic violence on the part of the powerful, to silence all inconvenient voices." Reportedly, Imparcial Fax had accused politicians and military figures of corruption and other crimes. Angola's Information Minister, Hendrik Vaal Neto, declared that he deeply regretted De Mello's murder and said he had ordered an investigation to be opened into the case.
IFEX (MISA)(January 19, 1994): According to De Mello's wife, Arminda Mateus who also writes for the newsletter, the assassins did not take his money or identification papers. "We have been persecuted all the time," declared Mateus, "even myself and our son have been threatened." Mateus said that the military had warned them a day earlier on January 17, to stop publishing stories concerning them and the war. Reports indicated that De Mello was wellconnected to the ruling MPLA, but because of his journalism he became unpopular among hardliners within the party, especially the military and the police. "Imparcial Fax" had been launched in February 1994, published five days a week and was distributed by fax to subscribers. It earned a reputation for its critical articles that others did not dare to publish. Pressure on the staff increased from October 1994, after they published details of secret military documents outlining an army psychological warfare campaign.
AP (February 7, 1995): According to some news reports, De Mello had been receiving death threats since March 1994. Anonymous callers told him to stop reporting about the government, the ruling party and the military... or face the consequences. De Mello, one of the most controversial journalists in Angola, was quoted by his wife as saying "when they want to do it, they will do it."
Country: AZERBAIJAN
CASENR: 26.
name: Adil Bunyatov
nationality: Azeri
newsorgan: Reuter
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 17/03/95
age: 36
source: Reuter
description: Bunyatov, a cameraman for "Reuter" since 1992, was killed by a single bullet to the throat, on March 17 1995, while he was covering a fight between Azeri government troops and a rebel police unit outside the capital Baku.
Additional: According to Bunyatov's family, he was filming some 200 metres away from the front door of his house, which was in the area of the fighting. Bunyatov had covered many conflicts in the former Soviet Union including the one in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Mark Wood, editorinchief of Reuters said that "he has provided television coverage of the highest quality and professionalism in recent years from the conflicts in the Caucasus, winning tributes for his skill and courage." Wood added that "Adil's death is another example of the terrible risks faced by journalists in the front line."
IFEX (CPJ)(April 5, 1995): According to Turan news agency, due to the government censorship introduced in the wake of the mutiny, opposition newspapers and independent media were prevented from revealing any details about Bunyatov's death.
Country: BOSNIA
CASENR: 27.
name: John Schofield
nationality: British
newsorgan: BBC
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 09/08/95
age: 29
source: AP/Reuter/UPI/Washington Post
description: Schofield, a reporter with the "BBC" radio programme "The World Tonight", was hit in the neck by a single bullet on August 9 1995 and died immediately.
Additional: Schofield was travelling to Bihac in an armoured car along with three other BBC World Service journalists when they were attacked by Croat soldiers. Two of his colleagues were wounded and the other was uninjured. According to the Croat Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Ivan Tolj, the journalists had illegally entered an area where "small groups of Serb paramilitary troops could be hiding." The BBC said that the journalists, who were wearing flack jackets, "spotted what appeared to be burning villages and got out to film. They were lying down when they came under sustained smallarms fire from the Croatian army." According to the journalists, the firing stopped when they identified themselves as journalists. The Croatian soldiers provided them with first aid and took the injured to hospital.
Country: BOSNIA
CASENR: 28.
name: Karim Zaimovic
nationality: Bosnian
newsorgan: Dani
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 13/08/95
age: 24
source: IFEX (IFJ)
description: Zaimovic, a journalist with the Sarajevobased magazine "Dani", died of his wounds on August 13, 1995.
Additional: He died in hospital, where he was taken after being wounded by a grenade on August 7 while on assignment.
Country: BOSNIA
CASENR: 29.
name: Jadranko Bozanovic
nationality: Bosnian
newsorgan: Radio Zavidovici
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 10/09/95
age: 36
source: IFJ/FIEJ Coordinating Centre
description: Bozanovic, editor-in-chief of Radio Zavidovici, was gunned down in front of his flat by unknown assailants and died eleven hours later of his injuries. Bozanovic had been called out of his flat by his attackers. He was a well-respected independent journalist in Bosnia.
Country: BRAZIL
CASENR: 30.
name: Zaqueu de Oliveira
nationality: Brazilian
newsorgan: Gazeta de Barroso
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 21/03/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (CPJ)
description: De Oliveira, editor of the newspaper "Gazeta de Barroso" in Minas Gerais state, was shot dead on March 21, 1995 reportedly by businessman Jose Carlos de Souza.
Additional: Allegedly, the crime occurred after a dispute about articles de Oliveira had written concerning the businessman's wife. Reportedly, the journalist's mother was also shot and wounded during the attack. She reported continuing death threats which were said to come from individuals close to de Souza. As of September 27 1995, the suspect in the murder had not been arrested.
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Country: BRAZIL
CASENR: 31.
name: Marcos Borges Ribeiro
nationality: Brazilian
newsorgan: Independente
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 01/05/95
age: 29
source: IFEX (IAPA)
description: Ribeiro, owner of the Rio Verdebased "Independente" newspaper in the central Brazilian state of Goias, was shot four times at pointblank range at his home on May 1, 1995 by unknown individuals.
Additional: He died on the way to hospital. According to his wife, who witnessed the murder, Ribeiro had received death threats after his newlylaunched newspaper reported on alleged human rights abuses committed by city officials including the local police.
IFEX (CPJ)(August 9, 1995): According to journalists in the state of Goias, a policeman who allegedly shot Ribeiro confessed to the killing and surrendered to police a few days after the crime.
IFEX (CPJ)(September 27, 1995): As of September 27, 1995 the police officer who confessed to the murder remained free on bail awaiting trial.
Country: BRAZIL
CASENR: 32.
name: Aristeu Guida da Silva
nationality: Brazilian
newsorgan: A Gazeta de Sao Fidelis
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 12/05/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (CPJ)
description: Guida da Silva, owner of the newspaper "A Gazeta de Sao Fidelis" in Sao Fidelis, northwest of Rio de Janeiro, was shot dead on May 12, 1995 by two men who drove motorbikes and had their heads covered with hoods.
Additional: Guida da Silva's father said that the journalist had been receiving death threats for articles he published in the newspaper. Reportedly, the articles accused the president of the local municipal council of corruption. As of September 27 1995, the case remained unsolved and no one had been arrested for the murder.
Country: BRAZIL
CASENR: 33.
name: Reinaldo Coutinho da Silva
nationality: Brazilian
newsorgan: Cachoeiras Jornal
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 29/08/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (IAPA)
description: Da Silva, owner of the weekly "Cachoeiras Jornal" in the village of Cachoeiras de Macac, Rio de Janeiro state, was gunned down by an unknown assailant on August 29, 1995 in the neighbouring town of Sao Goncalo.
Additional: Reportedly, the assailant shot 14 times at close range with a 45 mm pistol while da Silva was driving his car. Police opened an investigation into the murder. It is believed that da Silva was killed because of charges he had published about corruption. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said that his assassination could also be an attempt to block the dissemination of certain documents.
IFEX (CPJ)(September 27, 1995): Da Silva's colleagues suspected that the killing might be connected with his writings on police corruption and his investigations into the involvement of a local politician in an environmental scandal.
Country: BURUNDI
CASENR: 34.
name: Vincent Francis
nationality: South African
newsorgan: Worldwide Television News (WTN)
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 06/04/95
age: ?
source: Reuter
description: Francis, WTN's Johannesburg bureau chief, was killed by bandits on April 6, 1995 in an ambush some 15 km from the capital Bujumbura.
Additional: Francis, on assignment in Burundi, was driving back to Bujumbura with a WTN cameraman, the driver and a translator. The incident happened half an hour before the 7 p.m. curfew. According to the cameraman who survived the ambush, the assailants wore a mix of camouflage and civilian clothing. However, he was convinced they were bandits as they took away the money, the camera and a bag. Diplomats in Burundi said that ambushes by armed bandits were common in the country especially when cars were rushing to reach Bujumbura before dusk as the army did not patrol roads at night.
Country: BURUNDI
CASENR: 35.
name: Pamphile Simbizi
nationality: Burundian
newsorgan: National Radio
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 07/06/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (RSF)
description: Simbizi, director of the French section of the second channel of the national radio of Burundi, was stabbed to death on June 7, 1995 by unknown assailants in the hills of the Gasenyi district of Bujumbura.
Additional: Simbizi was an experienced and respected journalist in his thirties. He was part of the moderate Hutu movement at the national radio. He participated in the preparation of a special programme about the freedom of the press in Burundi on May 3, 1995 World Press Freedom Day.
Country: CANADA
CASENR: 36.
name: Brian Smith
nationality: Canadian
newsorgan: CJOHTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 01/08/95
age: 54
source: AP
description: Smith, a newscaster with the Ottawabased "CJOHTV" television station, was shot twice in the head on August 1, 1995 by an unknown individual as he was leaving the station after his nightly broadcast.
Additional: Smith was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery. He was reportedly in critical condition. Smith, who had worked for "CJOHTV" since 1973, was shot with a rifle in the station's parking lot. "CJOH"'s news director, Max Keeping, declared that the motive of the attack was unknown. "We know of no threats against him that we're aware of," he said. Keeping added that "nothing on the newscast was provocative tonight or provocative this week." Police had a description of the assailant from witnesses and were looking for a car they believed was used by the gunman. The car was reportedly seen twice earlier that day in the "CJOH" parking lot.
AP (August 3, 1995): Smith died of massive brain injuries the following day, August 2, 1995. Jeffrey Arenburg, a 38year old unemployed man, surrendered at the Ottawa courthouse a day after the shooting and was charged with firstdegree murder. Police said that Arenburg had a grudge against the media but not against Smith in particular. He reportedly waited outside the television studios to attack the first journalist he could recognise. Three years ago, Arenburg was also charged with attacking Robert MacLaren, who worked at a radio station in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. MacLaren said Arenburg hit him after accusing the station of transmitting his future thoughts. On August 3, 1995 prosecutors and defence lawyers agreed that Arenburg should be sent to Royal Ottawa Hospital for a 60day psychiatric assessment.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 37.
name: Gomez Hurtado
nationality: Colombian
newsorgan: El Nuevo Siglo
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 02/11/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (IAPA)
description: Hurtado, publisher of the Bogotabased daily "El Nuevo Siglo" and former presidential candidate, was killed on November 2, 1995 by two unknown assailants.
Additional: Reportedly, Hurtado was gunned down outside the university where he was a professor. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack and its motives were unknown.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 38.
name: Gabriel Cruz Diaz
nationality: Colombian
newsorgan: Chinu's radio station
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 10/11/95
age: ?
source: Reuter
description: Diaz, a freelance journalist with the radio station of the town of Chinu, more than 400 km northwest of Bogota, was killed by two unknown assailants in front of his home on November 10, 1995.
Additional: Police said that they were searching for the suspects but did not have any motive for the killing of Diaz.
Country: COLOMBIA
CASENR: 39.
name: Ernesto Acero Candena
nationality: Colombian
newsorgan: ?
sector: PRESS/RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 12/12/95
age: 50
source: Reuter
description: Candena, a radio and newspaper reporter who also ran a weekly economic newsletter, was shot dead by two unknown men in the central city of Armenia, west of Bogota on December 12, 1995.
Additional: The assailants, who fired four pistol rounds into his face, fled by motorcycle. A police spokesman said that there was no known motive for the killing or clues about the identity of the gunmen.
Country: GUATEMALA
CASENR: 40.
name: Alberto Antoniotti Monje
nationality: Guatemalan
newsorgan: El Grafico
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 29/01/95
age: 55
source: AP/Reuter/UPI
description: Monje, a columnist for the rightwing newspaper "El Grafico" and an independent television producer, was shot dead on January 29, 1995 by unknown individuals as he arrived home in Guatemala city.
Additional: Family members rushed him to hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. According to his daughter who witnessed the killing, Monje had been receiving death threats. Monje was also press adviser of Guatemala's Attorney General and had been a spokesman for the farright political party National Liberation Movement. He was also a former correspondent for the Mexican television channel "Televisa" until he was fired. He had filed a $1 million US lawsuit against Televisa. The motive for the killing is unknown.
IFEX (CEPEX)(January 30, 1995): Monje was the press attaché of Attorney General Ramses Cuestas. Reportedly, the Attorney's office had recently charged the head of Staff of the Ministry of Defense Jose Luis Fernandez Ligorria with political assassinations, drug trafficking and car theft. Monje had previously been attacked in May 1993. That time unknown individuals opened fire on Monje's offices.
TOP
Country: INDIA
CASENR: 41.
name: Mushtaq Ali
nationality: Indian
newsorgan: Agence France Presse/Asian News Intern.
sector: TV/PHOTO
type: KILLED
date: 07/09/95
age: ?
source: Reuter
description: Ali, a Kashmirbased photographer for the French news agency "Agence France Presse" (AFP) and cameraman for India's Asian News International (ANI), was badly injured on September 8, 1995 when a parcel bomb exploded as he opened it at the BBC's office in Srinagar. He died of his wounds three days later.
Additional: Ali suffered extensive injuries to his head, chest and hands. Hospital reports indicated that he was in a critical condition and on a respirator. Ysuf Jameel, "BBC" and Reuters correspondent, and Habibullah Naqash, journalist for "United News of India" (UNI), were slightly injured in the blast. Reportedly, the parcel bomb was addressed to Jameel who recalled that he had been about to open the parcel when the telephone rang. Ali opened it instead. According to colleagues, the parcel was delivered by a woman veiled from head to toe in black, common dress in the Kashmir where Muslims are in the majority. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, reported that the woman introduced herself as a member of the banned DukhtaraneMillat militant group. The "Reuters" news agency indicated that the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference, which includes more than 30 Kashmiri separatist groups, condemned the attack, and the Conference further stipulated that it believed it was orchestrated by the Indian government. However, a spokesman for Jammu and Kashmir state said the Indian government would provide security to any journalist in Srinagar who felt a need for it. Journalists, however, rejected the offer alleging that Indian security forces would attract militant attacks. They also feared that the measure would suggest that journalists had chosen sides in Kashmir's conflict.
Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 42.
name: Ruperto Armenta
nationality: Mexican
newsorgan: El Regional
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 05/02/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (CPJ)
description: Armenta, editor of the weekly "El Regional", was beaten to death on February 5, 1995 by unknown individuals in the state of Sinaloa.
Additional: Reportedly, Armenta's body was found in a water canal near the town of Guasave. It was not known whether his death was related to his work as a journalist. However, the murder was alarming as many attacks against journalists carried out in the state of Sinaloa were still unsolved.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 43.
name: Jochen Piest
nationality: German
newsorgan: Stern
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 10/01/95
age: 30
source: Reuter/DPA/AP
description: Piest, Moscow correspondent for the news weekly magazine "Stern", was shot dead on January 10 1995, while he was covering the conflict in the Russian breakaway republic of Chechnya.
Additional: Reportedly, Piest was hit by three bullets when a Chechen rebel launched a "kamikaze" attack in Chervlyonaya, a village 60 km northeast of Grozny, the Chechen capital. Apparently, Piest and a Russian reporter were at the train station of the village to take pictures of a special Russian unit. The Chechen rebel drove a locomotive and opened fire on the soldiers with an automatic weapon. Piest was shot dead and his colleague was wounded. Piest had been working at Stern's Moscow bureau since March 1 1994, writing reports and political analysis.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 44.
name: Valentin Yanus
nationality: Russian
newsorgan: Channel 5
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 14/01/95
age: 56
source: AP
description: Yanus, a cameraman for the State TV Bskov, based in Bskov, was killed in central Grozny, the capital of the breakaway republic of Chechnya on January 14, 1995. He was the fourth journalist to die in the conflict.
Additional: DPA (January 23, 1995): Yanus was killed by a sniper in the neighbourhood of the Presidential Palace in Grozny. Reportedly, he was with four other colleagues reporting on a paratroop unit from Pskow, northwestern Russia, that was fighting in Grozny.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 45.
name: Viacheslav Rudnev
nationality: Russian
newsorgan: Znamya/Vest
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 17/02/95
age: ?
source: IFEX (CPJ)
description: Rudnev, a freelance journalist for regional newspapers such as "Znamya" (Flag) and "Vest" (News), died of his wounds on February 17, 1995 in the local hospital of Kaluga, a small city outside Moscow where he lived and worked.
Additional: Rudnev had been found unconscious in the hallway of his apartment building two days earlier, February 15. According to his colleagues, Rudnev had received death threats since late January 1995 after he told them about his plans to write an article focusing on police corruption in the Kaluga region. The police investigation concluded that Rudnev had fallen from a height of about six feet. However, his friends were suspicious of the police findings. They declared that the journalist had two injuries to his scull, one to the front and the other to the back of his head. Furthermore, Rudnev's accreditation and identification papers were missing.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 46.
name: Vladislav Listyev
nationality: Russian
newsorgan: Public Russian Television "Ostankino"
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 01/03/95
age: 38
source: Reuter
description: Listyev, a prominent Russian television journalist and newly appointed executive director of the Public Russian Television, was shot dead by unknown individuals on March 1, 1995, in the stairwell of his Moscow apartment.
Additional: According to the Health Ministry, Listyev died from a bullet to the heart. The motive for the murder was unknown. However, Vsevolod Bogdanov, chairman of the Russian Journalists' Union, declared that "this is a battle of politicians, of authorities, of businessmen and of different mafia groups." Alexander Yakovlev, board chairman of the Russian Public Television, was quoted as saying "this is a contract killing and the mafia's doing."
Reuter (March 2, 1995):Oleg Gaidanov, deputy Prosecutor, stated that investigations were being conducted into Listyev's work as he was trying to bring the sale of advertising under the channel's direct control, avoiding the intermediate salesman. Media reports indicated that under the new system Listyev was trying to introduce the agency Reklama-Holding in charge of selling Ostankino's advertising would have made considerably less profit.
AP (November 4, 1995): Russian authorities charged a member of the Solntsevo gang, one of Moscow's most powerful organised crime groups, with arranging the murder of Listyev. The news agency "ITARTass" did not disclose the man's identity and added that the murder was ordered by someone else. However, "ITARTass" indicated that some police investigating the murder doubted the gang member was involved in the killing.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 47.
name: Farkhad Kerimov
nationality: Azeri
newsorgan: Associated Press
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 30/05/95
age: 47
source: Reuter
description: Kerimov, a freelance cameraman for "Associated Press TV", was killed in the breakaway republic of Chechnya on May 30, 1995.
Additional: The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear. Kerimov had previously worked for Reuters Television as a freelance correspondent in several troublespots of the former Soviet Union. He had also worked for a local newspaper in Azerbaijan and for the Azeri news agency Turan.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 48.
name: Natalya Alyakina
nationality: Russian
newsorgan: Focus/ RUFA
sector: PRESS/RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 17/06/95
age: 40
source: Reuter/AP
description: Alyakina, a Russian journalist working for the German magazine "Focus" and the "RUFA" radio news agency, was shot dead on June 17, 1995 by a Russian soldier in the southern town of Budennovsk, near the border with the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
Additional: Reportedly, Alyakina was hit by two bullets in the back of the neck when a Russian soldier shot at the rear of her car after passing a checkpoint near Bodennovsk. Alyakina was travelling in the back seat of the car with her German husband, Gisbert Brosek, also a journalist for "RUFA". They were travelling from the town of Mineralnye Vody to Budennovsk to cover the crisis of the hundreds of hostages being held by Chechen armed men. Reports indicated that a soldier had been detained on suspicion of premeditated murder. The commander of the Russian checkpoint reportedly said that the shots were fired by accident. However, Brosek dismissed the allegations and declared that "I don't think it was an accident."
AP (June 19, 1995): Russia's chief military prosecutor, Yuri Yakovlev, ordered an investigation on June 19, 1995 into the murder of Natalya Alyakina. Yakovlev said that the attack did not appear to be premeditated but that an investigation was continuing.
IFEX (RSF)(August 29, 1995): According to the results of the investigation into Alyakina's death carried out by a military tribunal, her death was caused by a "handling error" committed by a young soldier. Reportedly, the soldier stepped on his BMP1 machine gun with his feet which set off the trigger, firing shots at the car. The soldier was charged under article 2511 of the Federation of Russia penal code with "violating the rules for carrying arms." However, according to military experts consulted by Alyakina's husband, Gisbert Mrozek, in Moscow, it is impossible to accidentally fire a machine gun in the manner described.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 49.
name: Shamkhan Kagirov
nationality: Russian
newsorgan: Rossiyskaya
Gazeta/Vozrozhdeniye
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 13/12/95
age: 46
source: Reuter
description: Kagirov, a journalist who worked for the Russian government newspaper "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" and the Chechen paper "Vozrozhdeniye", was shot dead together with three local policemen in an ambush in rebel Chechnya on December 13, 1995.
Additional: According to "ItarTass" news agency, Kagirov and the three policemen were attacked when travelling in a car near the Chechen capital Grozny. The journalist was reportedly working on a story about the preparations in the Chechen countryside for the elections scheduled for December 17, 1995.
Country: RUSSIA
CASENR: 50.
Name: Vadim Alfereyev
nationality: Russian
newsorgan: Segodnyashnyaya Gazeta
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 27/12/95
age: 30
source: Journalists' Union of Russia
description: On 27/12/1995, Alfereyev, a crime reporter with the Krasnoyarsk newspaper "Segodnyashnyaya Gazeta" was beaten to death with a metal rod.
Additional: Alfereyev was attacked at the entrance to his apartment building. He had been writing about economic crimes in the region and had been threatened several times.
TOP
Country: SOMALIA
CASENR: 51.
name: Marcello Palmisano
nationality: Italian
newsorgan: RAI
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 09/02/95
age: 55
source: Reuter/AP
description: Palmisano, a cameraman with the Italian public television network "RAI", was killed on February 9, 1995, by Somali assailants while he and his colleague were filming the withdrawal of UN troops from Somalia.
Additional: The incident happened on the road to Mogadishu airport. Palmisano was shot dead after a truck blocked their way and others surrounded them and opened fire. His colleague survived the attack. Reportedly, the car in which the journalists were travelling caught fire after being shot by a rifle grenade. Somali witnesses believed that the attack was part of what was described as "the banana war", a conflict between two banana exporting companies in Somalia. Apparently, Palmisano and his colleague were travelling in a car hired by Somalfruit and were attacked by members of the Sombana company. Palmisano had arrived in Mogadishu just hours earlier.
Country: SRI LANKA
CASENR: 52.
name: Edvin Weerasinghe
nationality: Sri Lankan
newsorgan: Silumina Sinhala
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 29/04/95
age: ?
source: Sri Lankan Union of Journalists
description: Weerasinghe, a journalist for the "Silumina Sinhala" weekly, died on April 29, 1995 following a missile attack on the plane in which he was flying along with two other colleagues.
Additional: Reportedly, the Tamil guerrilla group Liberation Tigers launched a surfacetoair missile attack on the military aircraft. The journalists were flying with military personnel and policemen to the north of the country to cover the ethnic conflict.
Country: SRI LANKA
CASENR: 53.
name: Karunaratne Saputhanthri
nationality: Sri Lankan
newsorgan: Silumina Sinhala
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 29/04/95
age: ?
source: Sri Lankan Union of Journalists
description: Saputhanthri, a journalist for the "Silumina Sinhala" weekly, died on April 29, 1995 along with two other colleagues when the airplane in which he travelled was attacked by a missile from the Tamil guerrilla group Liberation Tigers.
Additional: Reportedly, the guerrillas used a surfacetoair missile to down the aircraft. Saputhanthri and his colleagues were flying in an army airplane along with military personnel and policemen to the north of the country to cover the ethnic conflict.
Country: SRI LANKA
CASENR: 54.
name: Kirama Piyasoma
nationality: Sri Lankan
newsorgan: Silumina Sinhala
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 29/04/95
age: ?
source: Sri Lankan Union of Journalists
description: Piyasoma, a journalist for the "Silumina Sinhala" weekly, died on April 29, 1995 along with two other colleagues when their airplane was attack by the Tamil guerrilla group Liberation Tigers.
Additional: Reportedly, the guerrillas used surfacetoair missiles to down the aircraft. Piyasoma and his colleagues were travelling in an army airplane along with military personnel and policemen to the north of the country to cover the ethnic conflict.
Country: TAJIKISTAN
CASENR: 55.
name: Muhiddin Alimpur
nationality: Tajik
newsorgan: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 12/12/95
age: ?
source: Reuter
description: Alimpur, Tajik reporter for the Persian language radio service of the "British Broadcasting Corporation" (BBC), was kidnapped and killed in Tajikistan on December 12, 1995.
Additional: According to the Iranian news agency "IRNA", Alimpur was "kidnapped and killed by unknown armed persons". Police found his body near the state university of Tajikistan the following morning. A police investigation was opened into the crime but nobody claimed responsibility. The motive for the murder was also unknown.
Country: TUNISIA
CASENR: 56.
name: Jaouhari Sahnoun
nationality: Tunisian
newsorgan: alFajr
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 25/01/95
age: 42
source: IFEX (International PEN)
description: Sahnoun, a journalist for "alFajr" newspaper, sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1992, died in prison on January 25, 1995, for unknown reasons.
Additional: Sahnoun, who was also a former member of the board of directors of the Tunisian League of Human Rights, was detained on March 23, 1991, and convicted of "attempting to overthrow the state with violence". Reportedly, he was transferred to Manuba psychiatric hospital in early 1994 after an alleged nervous breakdown. In December 1994 Sahnoun was transferred to 9 Avril prison for tests regarding his health. Finally on January 17 1995, he was taken to a Tunis hospital where he died. Human rights organisations claimed that Sahnoun had been tortured on arrest. His family were not informed of his death until they went to visit him. "AlFajr" was a proalNahda newspaper.
Country: TURKEY
CASENR: 57.
name: Bekir Kutmangil
nationality: Turkish
newsorgan: Yeni Gunaydin
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 22/05/95
age: 39
source: Reuter
description: Kutmangil, owner of the nationalist, conservative daily newspaper "Yeni Gunaydin", was shot dead on May 22, 1995 by three men in Istanbul's business centre Mecidiyekoy.
Additional: Kutmangil was killed while on his way to work. Police said that they had detained a person and were looking for Kutmangil's former bodyguard. The motive of the murder was allegedly the expulsion and sacking of an employee by Kutmangil. The trial is currently going on.
Country: TURKEY
CASENR: 58.
name: Sayfeddin Tepe
nationality: Turkish
newsorgan: Yeni Politika
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 29/08/95
age: 27
source: Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT)
description: Tepe, Batman correspondent for the proKurdish daily "Yeni Politika", died in detention on August 29, 1995 at the Bitlis Security Directorate.
Additional: Tepe's family was told by the Bitlis Security Directorate that he had committed suicide. Tepe had been detained on August 22 along with Ramazan Otunc and Aydin Bolkan, Batman representative and correspondent respectively for the same newspaper. Otunc and Bolkan were released later that day but Tepe was held in detention. On 26 August he was transferred to the Bitlis Security Directorate where he died on August 29.
Reuter (August 30, 1995): According to Tepe's brother, Tayyip, his body had marks of torture. "They said he had killed himself but that's not true," Tayyip said. "His only crime was being a journalist." Police alleged that Tepe hanged himself with his underwear from the bars in his cell. Tepe was the cousin of Ferhat Tepe, another journalist allegedly killed after being detained by police in Bitlis in 1993.
JSS (HRFT)(September 26, 1995): According to the HRFT, an investigation had been opened into the death in custody of Sayfeddin Tepe. As of 26 september the investigation had not yet concluded. However, HRFT had little faith that the investigation would undercover new evidence, saying that it will likely "not go beyond being only a bureaucratic procedure." On September 8 in Istanbul, lawyer Talat Tepe, Sayfeddin Tepe's uncle, held a press conference in which he claimed that the journalist was tortured to death and then hanged to fake suicide. He based his accusations on the report of the autopsy made on the journalist.
Country: UGANDA
CASENR: 59.
name: Hussein Njuki
nationality: Ugandan
newsorgan: Assalaam
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 25/08/95
age: 42
source: Reuter
description: Njuki, editor of the Muslim weekly newsletter "Assalaam", was detained by Ugandan police on August 25, 1995 after he called for the removal of President Yoweri Museveni.
Additional: Njuki was being held at Kampala's Central Police Station. He was to be charged with sedition on August 28, 1995 for articles published a week earlier in which he said that Museveni was failing to run the country and should be removed.
IFEX (RSF and CPJ)(August 30 and September 6 1995): Njuki died in police custody on August 28, 1995. Reportedly, Njuki was taken into custody by a group of plainclothes men from the AntiRobbery Squad, an extension of the domestic government security force, the Internal Security Organization (ISO). There were contradictory reports on the cause of Njuki's death. One report indicated that Njuki had been suffering from an illness that had considerably weakened him, and the shock of the ambush by the ISO squad exacerbated his sickness to fatal proportions. Another report claimed that Njuki was in perfect health before the arrest and was beaten to death by ISO agents. Yet a third report contended that Njuki collapsed during an attempt to escape and died in hospital of a heart attack.
Country: UKRAINE
CASENR: 60.
name: Vladimir Ivanov
nationality: Ukranian
newsorgan: Slava Sevastopolya
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 19/04/95
age: ?
source: Reuter
description: Ivanov, editorinchief of the Sebastopolbased daily newspaper "Slava Sevastopolya", died of his injuries on April 19 1995, following the bomb attack he suffered on April 14, 1995.
Additional: Reportedly, a remotecontrolled bomb in a rubbish container exploded outside his home when he was leaving for work. Police had no suspects. However, local journalists believed that the attack against Ivanov could be linked to his newspaper's criticism of local police and its opposition to the construction of an oil storage terminal. Media reports indicated that Ivanov had started a campaign denouncing the Crimea mafia.
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
CASENR: 61.
name: Tarsem Singh Purewal
nationality: Indian
newsorgan: Des Pardes
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 27/01/95
age: ?
source: IFEX Communique (International PEN)
description: Purewal, owner and editor of the newspaper "Des Pardes", was shot dead on January 27, 1995 by unknown assailants as he left the offices of the newspaper in Southall, southwest London.
Additional: Reportedly, "Des pardes" was Britain's bestselling Punjabi newspaper and was outspoken on traditionally taboo issues. The newspaper's staff believed that Purewal's murder could have been ordered by the Indian government because of sympathetic coverage of the Punjab independence movement by "Des Pardes". The newspaper had also accused members of the Sikh community of committing rape, adultery or fraud. Police launched an intensive investigation and did not rule out that the murder could have been part of a bungled robbery attempt. Police also reported that members of the Indian High Commission were being questioned.
Number of Incidents: 61
TOP
OTHER MEDIA WORKERS KILLED IN 1995
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 1.
name: Mahmoud Aouarhoun
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: APS
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 01/03/95
age: 39
source: Reuter [NOT COUNTED AS JOURNALIST]
description: Aouarhoun, an operator who handled the transmissions of stories of the Algerian official news agency "APS", was killed on March 1 1995, near his home in Baraki, southwest of Algiers.
Additional: Aouarhoun had worked with APS since 1977. Nobody claimed responsibility for the murder.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 2.
name: Radja Brahimi
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 08/09/95
age: 25
source: AP/Reuter/DPA [NOT
COUNTED AS
JOURNALIST]
description: Brahimi, a technician at the staterun television station "ENTV", was shot dead along with her husband Said, a reporter for the same station, on September 8, 1995 by alleged Muslim fundamentalists.
Additional: The Brahimis were gunned down in their car in Cherarda village, some 75 km east of Algiers, in the region of Dellys, a bastion of Muslim fundamentalists. They were on their way to visit Said's parents when they were killed. Reportedly the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) issued an ultimatum to journalists to leave their work before September 15 "before it is too late."
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 3.
name: Ahmed Khalfoun
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Algerian Press Agency (APS)
sector: AGENCY
type: KILLED
date: 04/11/95
age: 50
source: Reuter [NOT COUNTEDAS JOURNALIST]
description: Khalfoun, director of financial resources of the "Algerian Press Agency" (APS), was shot dead on November 4, 1995 near his home in the Bir Khadem area of the capital Algiers.
Additional: Khalfoun had been working for APS for five years. Nobody claimed responsibility for the murder.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 4.
name: Abdelwahab Sadaoui
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: Al Chaab
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 15/10/95
age: ?
source: Reuter [NOT COUNTEDAS JOURNALIST]
description: Sadaoui, commercial director of the governmentcontrolled Arabiclanguage daily "Al Chaab", was found dead on October 15, 1995 after having been kidnapped from his parents' home in Chlef province, 170 km southwest of Algiers.
Additional: Nobody claimed responsibility for Sadaoui's murder, but his newspaper blamed his death on Muslim militants.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 5.
name: Abdelkarim Bendaoud
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 15/12/95
age: ?
source: Reuter [NOT COUNTEDAS JOURNALIST]
description: Bendaoud, a technician working for Algerian staterun television, "ENTV", died on December 14 1995, from bullet wounds received on December 9, 1995.
Additional: Bendaoued was shot several times by gunmen outside his home in Algiers' El Biar suburb.
Country: ALGERIA
CASENR: 6.
name: Mohamed Belkacem
nationality: Algerian
newsorgan: ENTV
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 20/12/95
age: 46
source: Association des Journalistes Algériens [NOT COUNTED AS A JOURNALIST]
description: Mohamed Belkacem, head of a section of the production department of ENTV, Algeria's staterun television, was kidnapped by gunmen at 10 am on 20 December 1995, he was found dead at 7.40 pm the same day.
Additional: (REUTER) Belkacem was reported to have been dragged out of his car by three men near his home in Baraki, a Muslim fundamentalist stronghold in southern Algiers.
TOP
JOURNALISTS KILLED IN ACCIDENTS IN 1995
Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 1.
name: Gilberto Medina
nationality: Mexican
newsorgan: Televisa
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 10/07/95
age: ?
source: AP
description: Medina, a cameraman for the television network "Televisa", died on July 10, 1995 along with journalist Ricardo Pena and their pilot Sergio Espinoza in a helicopter accident.
Additional: Reportedly, their helicopter crashed against the side of a warehouse in Mexico City, caught fire and exploded.
Country: MEXICO
CASENR: 2.
name: Ricardo Pena
nationality: Mexican
newsorgan: Televisa
sector: TELEVISION
type: KILLED
date: 10/07/95
age: ?
source: AP
description: Pena, an awardwinning reporter for the Mexican "Televisa" television network, died on July 10, 1995 along with his cameraman, Gilberto Medina, and their pilot, Sergio Espinoza, when their helicopter crashed against the side of a warehouse in Mexico city, caught fire and exploded.
CASES STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION
Country: ANGOLA
CASENR: 1.
name: Adalerto Costa
nationality: Angolan
newsorgan: Radio Luanda
sector: RADIO
type: KILLED
date: 21/12/95
age: ?
source: MISA
description: Costa, a journalist working for stateowned "Radio Luanda" was shot on 20/12/1995 and later died from his wounds.
Additional: Costa was at home in Luanda when he was shot five times by unknown assailants. According to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), it isn't clear whether Costa was the victim of criminals or died following a domestic feud.
Country: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
CASENR: 2.
name: Juan Carlos Vasquez
nationality: Dominican
newsorgan: Ultima Hora
sector: PRESS
type: KILLED
date: 02/07/95
age: 31
source: AP
description: Vasquez, an awardwinning sports writer for the daily "Ultima Hora", was fatally wounded on July 2, 1995 by an offduty policeman, Nelio Aquino Garcia, during a traffic dispute.
Additional: Vasquez's driver was wounded in the incident. Reportedly, Garcia shot Vasquez in the head when he realised that a cameraman for a national sports programme was videotaping the incident. According to the cameraman, Vasquez and his driver who had been covering a Jetski competition in Boca Chica beach, were returning to their office when the minibus carrying Garcia hit the journalists' jeep from behind. Vasquez and his driver argued with the driver of the minibus when he refused to go to a police station to report the accident. It was then that Garcia, a passenger of the minibus and reportedly a relative of the bus driver, opened fire. Vasquez, who had received the award for best sports writer from the Dominican Sports Writer's Association in June 1995, later died in hospital. The videotape of the incident was broadcast by several television stations.
Country: RWANDA
CASENR: 3.
name: Manasse Mugabo
nationality: Rwandan
newsorgan: United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda Radio
sector: RADIO
type: MISSING
date: 19/08/95
age: 32
source: UN
description: Mugabo, a journalist with UNAMIR radio disappeared on 19 August after leaving his home to go to Uganda. At the time of his disappearance Mr Mugabo was on leave but no record of his having crossed the border could be found. The UN Human Rights Monitors have been involved in trying to trace Mr Mugabo and the UN has expressed concern at his disappearance.
Country: THAILAND
CASENR: 4.
name: Jeremy Taylor
nationality: Australian
newsorgan: ?
sector: PHOTOGRAPHY
type: KILLED
date: 25/06/95
age: 35
source: UPI
description: Taylor, freelance photographer who ran a small photographic agency, was shot dead on June 25, 1995 by unknown assailants in central Bangkok.
Additional: According to police, Taylor was walking along Sathorn Road near the Burmese Embassy when he was hit in the chest by a single bullet. Reportedly, Taylor was attacked after leaving a party at a friend's home. Police stated that "the murder took place at a time when no one was around." The reason for the attack was unknown.
