07/03/2012

Moscow police must investigate attacks on journalists

New York, March 7, 2012--A reporter covering a post-election protest in Moscow suffered a concussion after being assaulted by police, the most serious of at least three attacks on journalists reporting on demonstrations on Monday, news reports said. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assaults and calls on police to hold the assailants accountable under the law. Ulyana Malashenko, a reporter for Kommersant FM, the broadcasting arm of the independent business daily Kommersant, was hospitalized after being struck twice in the head with a baton by police dispersing a crowd at Lubyanka Square, the independent news website Lenta reported. Police were faulted in a second episode as well. Pavel Nikulin, a reporter with the daily Moskovskiye Novosti, told CPJ that police roughed him up during an opposition protest near the Lubyanka metro station. Nikulin told CPJ that a commanding officer identified as Captain Ilya Teleshov seized his press card and ordered him placed in a police van. Nikulin was detained for a couple hours before being freed...

URL Link: http://www.cpj.org/2012/03/moscow-police-must-investigate-attacks-on-journali.php#more

Author Organisation: CPJ