The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives in over 112 countries, is deeply concerned about the murder of Vasily Grodnikov, a freelance correspondent for the Narodnaya Volya newspaper.
Grodnikov was found dead with a head wound in his home in Zaslauje, near Minsk, on 18 October 2005. According to reports, the journalist’s family believes that he was murdered, but an official report has not yet been published.
The Narodnaya Volya opposition daily, which is frequently critical of the Belarusian authorities, has suffered ongoing harassment. In late September, the state monopolies in newspaper distribution, Belsoyzpechat and Mingorsoyzpechat, as well as the state run publishing house Krasnaya Zvezda, cancelled their contracts with the paper. Since then, Narodnaya Volya has been using a printer in the Russian city of Smolensk. The newspaper was also fined 100 million Belarusian rubles (approx. US$ 46,500) in June for allegedly defaming the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party.
The death of Grodnikov comes almost exactly one year after the murder of Veronika Cherkasova, a journalist with the independent newspaper Solidarnost, who was stabbed to death in her Minsk apartment on 20 October 2004. Cherkasova’s murder remains unsolved, and the Belarusian authorities have been criticised for focusing the investigation on her teenage son, rather than a motive related to her work.
Commenting on the situation, IPI Director Johann Fritz said, “We are very concerned that this murder, like the murders of Veronika Cherkasova, and the 2000 murder of Dmitry Zavadski, will remain unsolved. I call on the Belarusian authorities to ensure that there is an immediate and thorough investigation into this murder and that those responsible are brought to justice. I further urge the Belarusian authorities to take all possible steps to stop attacks on journalists and the alarming impunity that accompanies these crimes.”