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Arrest of Journalist, Blanket Media Restrictions on Chechnya Condemned
Rights Group urges all parties to respect rights of the press
(New York, February 1, 2000) -- Human Rights Watch today condemned the virtual ban on access to Chechnya which Russian authorities have placed on international and local journalists reporting on the conflict. It called the Russian restrictions arbitrary and obstructive.


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"Russia is keeping international and local journalists out of Chechnya through arbitrary and obstructive regulations. Journalists have a right to report on this conflict, and the obstacles placed in their path by the Russian authorities are unacceptable. By keeping journalists out, Russia is trying to hide the evidence of its brutal campaign in Chechnya from the eyes of the international community."

Jean-Paul Marthoz, European press director of Human Rights Watch


The rights organization also expressed concern about the dangers faced by journalists working in the region, and called on all parties to the conflict to respect the rights of the press. Human Rights Watch has also been denied access to Chechnya by Russian military authorities.

"Russia is keeping international and local journalists out of Chechnya through arbitrary and obstructive regulations," said Jean-Paul Marthoz, European press director of Human Rights Watch. "Journalists have a right to report on this conflict, and the obstacles placed in their path by the Russian authorities are unacceptable." Added Marthoz, "by keeping journalists out, Russia is trying to hide the evidence of its brutal campaign in Chechnya from the eyes of the international community."

Human Rights Watch strongly criticized the arrest and continued detention by Russian authorities of Andrei Babitsky, a ten-year-veteran reporter for the U.S.-sponsored Radio Liberty who had been reporting from the besieged capital Grozny. Russian officials had often accused Babitsky of being pro-Chechen in his accounts. After denying for five days that they had detained Babitsky and suggesting that he may have disappeared at the hands of Chechen rebels, Russian authorities finally admitted on Friday that Babitsky was in their custody.

Babitsky is believed to be held incommunicado in the Chechen town of Urus-Martan, without access to a lawyer or his family. The Interfax agency reported that Babitsky was charged with "taking part in an illegal armed formation," but this report has not been confirmed by Russian authorities. According to Babitsky's wife Lyudmila, Russian security agents raided their Moscow apartment on January 8 and seized photos he had taken in Grozny of dead Russian soldiers.

"Babitsky's arrest and continued detention is yet another attempt to muzzle independent coverage of the Chechnya conflict," said Marthoz. "Russia is arresting journalists for not having an accreditation which Russian authorities refuse to provide them in the first place. Babitsky must be immediately released, or Russia needs to provide some concrete evidence of wrongdoing on his part. Babitsky is a well-respected journalist and the information we have received indicates that he was simply doing his job as a journalist."

Since the beginning of the Chechnya conflict, Russian authorities have attempted to keep international and local journalists out of Chechnya by manipulating accreditation requirements. Although Russian law clearly grants accredited journalists access to the entire Russian territory and no state of emergency has been declared in Chechnya, Russian officials have required that journalists who want to visit Chechnya obtain additional accreditation from military authorities at the Mozdok military headquarters in North Ossetia.

Most international journalists have sought Mozdok accreditation without success. Only two or three international media organizations have received Mozdok accreditation after extensive lobbying efforts, while pro-Moscow journalists have been granted much greater access to Chechnya. Journalists are required to hire armed security guards when working in neighboring Ingushetia, and these armed guards have been instructed not to let journalists enter Chechnya.

International journalists who enter Chechnya without the additional Mozdok accreditation have been repeatedly arrested and questioned, and have been threatened with expulsion from Russia. Russia has also attempted to manipulate coverage of the Chechnya conflict by organizing carefully managed media tours which offer a strongly pro-Moscow view of the conflict. Journalists have sometimes managed to enter Chechnya by bribing corrupt Russian officials.

Russian journalists who have attempted to report critically on the Chechnya war have also faced negative consequences from the Russian authorities. When Russia's main commercial television station, NTV, aired an interview on January 23 with a Russian officer stating that Russia was suffering significant losses in Chechnya, the television station was removed from the military journalists' pool for several days in apparent retribution.

In late October 1999, Anthony Loyd, a reporter for the British Sunday Times, and Tyler Hicks, an American photographer, were arrested inside Chechnya and were extensively interrogated for a period of six days by agents of the Federal Security Bureau, the successor agency to the KGB. On December 29, Russian forces detained seven international journalists near Grozny, flew them by helicopter to the Mozdok military base, and held them for nine hours before releasing them without harm. Those arrested were Daniel Williams of the Washington Post; David Filipov of the Boston Globe; Marcus Warren of The Daily Telegraph; Rodriguez Fernandez of El Pais; British photojournalist Michael Yassukovich; and Ricardo Ortega of Spanish Antenna 3 television and his cameraman Teimuraz Gabashvili.

"There is no basis in Russian law for these stringent restrictions and arbitrary arrests, and they are inconsistent with international standards," said Marthoz. " Russia is simply trying to hide the evidence of its brutal campaign in Chechnya from the eyes of the international community."

Human Rights Watch also expressed concern about the dangerous working conditions faced by journalists working in the region. Journalists have been kidnaped on numerous occasions by shadowy groups operating in the region. Brice Fleutiaux, a French freelance photographer, was kidnaped inside Chechnya on October 1, 1999, and his fate is unknown. Dmitry Balburov, a correspondent for Moscovski Novosti, was kidnaped in Nazran, the capital of Ingushetia on October 4, and was freed inside Chechnya in early January 2000. Other reporters have been kidnaped in the region, as well as other Russians and foreigners such as aid workers.

"We urge all parties to the conflict in Chechnya to respect the rights of journalists," said Marthoz. "Journalists have a right to do their job without constant harassment. Covering a war is difficult enough without constant harassment and the danger of being kidnapped."

For more Human Rights Watch coverage of Chechnya, visit http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/russia/chechnya.
To receive Human Rights Watch Chechnya releases via email, send a blank message to: hrwchechnya-subscribe@topica.com


For Further Information:
Diederik Lohman, New York +1 914 830 4948 (Mobile)
Peter Bouckaert, Moscow + 7 095 250 6852 or + 7 901 4979071
Jean-Paul Marthoz, Brussels +322 732 2009 or 322 736 7838
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