Call for impartial investigation into fatal beating of journalist
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 21 April 2017 |
| Other Languages / Attachments | Russian |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Call for impartial investigation into fatal beating of journalist, 21 April 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/590a02774.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is deeply saddened by Saint Petersburg journalist Nikolai Andrushchenko's death from a beating and calls on the authorities to guarantee a thorough and impartial investigation. Andrushchenko often covered corruption, still one of the most dangerous subjects for reporters in Russia.
Andrushchenko, who co-founded the Novy Peterburg weekly, died in hospital on 19 April from the severe injuries he received on 9 March. Aged 74, he was well known in Saint Petersburg for his investigative reporting on corruption, the local elite and organized crime.
"Given the highly sensitive nature of Nikolai Andrushchenko's reporting, the judicial and police investigators must seriously examine the possibility that he was killed in connection with his work," said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.
"A thorough and impartial investigation must be guaranteed by putting a different jurisdiction or the federal authorities in charge of the case. Allowing impunity to prevail yet again would send a highly intimidatory signal to all investigative reporters in Russia."
Alevtina Ageyeva, the CEO of the Novy Peterburg publishing house, told RSF that Andrushchenko was found unconscious in the street on the night of 9 March after setting off to see someone in connection with a story he was working on. Hospitalized with head injuries, he underwent brain surgery and was then placed in an artificial coma from which he never emerged.
Like Novy Peterburg editor Denis Usov, Ageyeva is convinced that Andrushchenko's death was linked to the highly sensitive stories he covered. He specialized in corruption cases, abuse of authority and the murky links between organized crime and well-placed figures. And he took a close interest in the alleged mafia connections of the Saint Petersburg elite dating back to the 1990s.
His reporting won him many enemies. Someone set fire to his apartment door in March 2005. He spent six month in pre-trial detention in 2007-2008 on charges of obstructing justice and contempt of court before finally being acquitted. He said he was mistreated while in prison.
In 2009, he was convicted of inciting hatred against the police and insulting a prosecutor but the conviction ended up being quashed under a statute of limitations provision.
Novy Peterburg was closed by court order in 2007 and was allowed to resume publishing two years later. At that time, the newspaper often complained that printers refused to print certain articles.
RSF has repeatedly denounced the impunity enjoyed by those who physically attack or murder journalists in Russia, which is ranked 148th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.
