Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly
alarmed by the assassination last weekend of Larisa
Yudina, editor of the opposition Sovietskaya Kalmykia
Segodnya newspaper in the southern autonomous republic of
Kalmykia.
The 53-year-old Yudina, a prominent journalist and
political activist, was investigating reports of corrupt
business practices by regional officials when she
disappeared on June 7. That day she went to meet a source
who promised to give her evidence of financial
improprieties by local firms involved in an effort by
Kalmyk President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to set up an offshore
zone in the republic. She was found dead on June 8 in the
outskirts of the Kalmyk capital, Elista, with multiple
stab wounds and a fractured skull.
Yudina was frequently harassed and threatened for her
exposés of local corruption and hard-line rule by
the republic's millionaire president. For several years
she was forced to publish Sovietskaya Kalmykia Segodnya,
the only alternative news outlet in the republic, in
neighboring Volgograd after President Ilyumzhinov ordered
local printing presses to stop printing issues of the
paper. Her troubles with Kalmyk authorities as a
journalist and local leader of the liberal opposition
Yabloko party were documented by international and
Russian media, and press freedom groups, but elicited no
response from Russian leaders. Her death prompted public
protests in Elista, as people demanded a federal
investigation into her murder. Hundreds of residents
gathered for Yudina's funeral on June 10.
In response to the public outcry, Your Excellency has
publicly condemned Yudina's murder, Federal
Prosecutor-General Yuri Skuratov has taken over the
investigation, and three unidentified suspects, described
as close to the republic's leaders, have been arrested in
connection with the crime.
As a nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending
the universally recognized rights of our colleagues
around the world, CPJ condemns the assassination of
Larisa Yudina in apparent reprisal for her work as a
journalist. While we applaud the quick and high-level
action taken by federal law enforcement officials, we
must stress that your efforts have come too late for
Yudina. We remind you of Russia's international
obligations to protect the rights of journalists to
freely and safely practice their profession, without fear
of retaliation. We call on you to make public the
progress of your investigation and prosecute those
responsible.
Thank you for your attention. We await your
comments.
Sincerely,
William Orme, Jr.
Executive Director
