Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev | 2013 | Russian Federation

The deputy editor of the daily “Novoye Delo” and a correspondent of the Kavkazskiy Uzel news website, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev was gunned down as he was leaving his home in Semender, a suburb of Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala, on 9 July 2013.

According to media reports, Akmednabiyev was in his car, just 50 meters from his home, when the unknown attackers began shooting, killing him at the scene. There was no shortage of warning signs.

In 2009, his name was on a hit-list circulating in Makhachkala that accused several independent journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers of colluding with Dagestan’s armed Islamists and threatened them with death to avenge the murders of policemen. One of these journalists was gunned down in December 2011.

Known for covering human rights violations, corruption and the persecution of religious minorities, Akhmednabiyev had received many other threats and had narrowly escaped a murder attempt on 11 January 2013, when four shots fired in his direction only just missed him. Nonetheless, he was not given any protection after this shooting, which the prosecutor’s office did not even treat as a murder attempt.

The investigation into the journalist's murder was closed a year later, without any arrests.

Alert: Independent Journalist Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev Shot Dead in Daghestan, Russia

Photo: Azadiya Welat

Rohat Aktaş | 2016 | Turkey

Rohat Aktaş, news editor and reporter for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, was shot in the arm on 22 January 2016 while covering clashes between Kurdish separatists and Turkish forces in Cizre, Turkey. He was trapped in a basement and, by 4 February 2016, his editor had not heard from him for five days.

On 25 February 2016, local media reported that the dead body of Aktaş had been identified by the forensic authorities. A Turkish court issued a detention warrant for Aktaş in March 2017. No investigation into his death is being reported.

Alert: Journalist Rohat Aktaş, Injured while Reporting in Cizre, Dies

Mikhail Beketov | 2013 | Russian Federation

Mikhail Beketov, the former editor of the newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda died of heart failure in a Moscow hospital on 8 April 2013.

In November 2008, Beketov was the victim of a savage beating by unknown attackers who left him for dead out in the cold. He lost three fingers and part of his leg and suffered long-term brain damage. The journalist had a breathing tube inserted in a life-saving surgery following the assault. However, the operation also left scars that caused food to block the airflow to his lungs, eventually leading to heart failure.

In 2012, he was awarded a journalism prize by Russian President Vladimir Putin who promised that his attackers would be found and prosecuted but, to date, no one has been arrested.

Alert: Justice Delayed and Denied to Former Editor Mikhail Beketov who Died of Illness Induced by Beating in Russia

Daphne Caruana Galizia | 2017 | Malta

On 16 October 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered near her family home at Bidnija, Malta, by a car bomb. She was known for her investigative journalism and her blog “Running Commentary”, one of the most widely read websites in Malta. In 2016, she had been named by Politico one of the “28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe”, after she had revealed the involvement of Maltese politicians in the “Panama Papers” scandal.

In February 2017, her bank accounts were frozen after the Minister of the Economy and his adviser filed libel suits over a blog post exposing that they had visited a brothel while on official mission in Germany.

On 4 December 2017, the police arrested ten suspects, three of whom (Alfred and George Degiorgio and Vince Muscat) were charged on 16 July 2019 with murder, criminal conspiracy, criminal use of explosives and membership of organised crime.

On 20 September 2019, following Resolution 2293(2019) by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe requesting an independent public inquiry into the murder within three months, the government of Malta ordered a public inquiry.

Alert: Investigative Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia Killed by Car Bomb

Hrant Dink | 2007 | Turkey

On 19 January 2007, Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist and founder of Agos newspaper, was shot dead at 15:05 on the street in front of his office in Istanbul. The murderer, a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist, and some of his accomplices were apprehended and imprisoned but not all parties involved in the crime have been investigated.

On 14 September 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Dink v. Turkey that Turkey had failed to protect Hrant Dink’s life and to adequately investigate into his death, in violation of Article 2 (right to life), Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention of Human Rights.

On 17 July 2014, Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that the investigations carried out after the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights had not remedied the outstanding issues, and that civil servants and institutions must be investigated for their alleged roles in Dink’s murder.

On 1 July 2019, upon a re-opened investigation, the İstanbul 14th Court of Serious Crime ruled that Dink’s murder had been an “organised crime”, sending seven defendants who it found had failed to protect the journalist and forged reports to prison sentences, ranging from 2 years and 9 months up to 99 years and 6 months. The lawyers of Dink’s family have appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court of Appeals, as the defendants should have been convicted of membership of an “armed terrorist organisation”, rather than of an “illegal criminal organisation”.

Alert: Masterminds Still not Condemned, Ten Years after the Assassination of Journalist Hrant Dink

Georgiy Gongadze | 2000 | Ukraine

On 16 September 2000, Georgiy Gongadze disappeared; his beheaded body was found six weeks later. The journalist had been investigating corruption within the Government and in the Presidency of then President Kuchma. In the months leading to his death, Gongadze reported that he was under surveillance and had been receiving threats.

After years of investigations, four former officers of the Ukrainian Secret Service were convicted, but no one was sentenced for ordering and instigating his killing. Over the last 16 years, the lack of an effective investigation into Gongadze’s kidnapping and murder has had a heavy impact on the Ukrainian society and on the journalistic community at large.

On 8 November 2005, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Gongadze v. Ukraine that Ukraine had failed to protect Gongadze’s life and to adequately investigate into his death, in violation of Article 2 (right to life) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention of Human Rights.

On 23 January 2013, the High Specialised Court for Civil and Criminal Cases convicted Oleksiy Pukach, the former head of the surveillance department in the Ministry of Interior, of abuse of authority, excess of official powers and premeditated murder of Gongadze, and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Pukach has appealed the judgment on matters of law before Ukraine’s Supreme Court.

Alert: Continuing Impunity in the Killing of the Ukrainian Investigative Journalist Georgiy Gongadze

Elmar Huseynov | 2005 | Azerbaijan

On 2 March 2005, Elmar Huseynov, an Azerbaijani journalist working for the “Monitor” magazine, was gunned down in front of his apartment in Baku. Prior to this, the journalist had received threats related to his work. In April 2005, Azerbaijani investigators announced the identification of six Georgian suspects related to this murder, which was re-qualified from “premeditated murder” to an “act of terrorism” aiming to destabilise the country. The mastermind behind the murder of the journalist has not been brought to justice.

On 13 April 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Huseynova v. Azerbaijan that Azerbaijan had failed to properly investigate into Huseynov’s murder, in violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Alert: Twelve Years of Impunity in the Case of the Murder of Elmar Huseynov

Photo: Twitter.Raqqa_SL

Naji Jerf | 2015 | Turkey

Syrian journalist Naji Jerf was gunned down in Gaziantep, Turkey, on 27 December 2015. He was the founder and editor of the magazine Henta, and the author of several documentary films on Daesh and the Syrian government, including “ISIS in Aleppo”, a documentary on the execution of Syrian activists by Daesh. Jerf had just obtained a visa in France over threats since the release of his documentary and was about to leave Turkey with his family.

On 9 June 2017, a court in the Gaziantep Province sentenced Yusef Hamed Al-Shefreihi twice to life prison, over the murder of Jerf and an “attempt to overthrow the constitutional order”. Three suspects (Farag Al-Hussein, Ali Cerkez and Reyad Matar) were acquitted over a lack of material evidence.

The investigation and the trial have been criticised for leaving questions open about the motive for the murder, Al-Shefreihi’s profile and the possible involvement of other persons.

Alert: Murder of Syrian Journalist Naji Jerf in Turkey

Dusko Jovanovic | 2004 | Montenegro

On the evening of 27 May 2004, journalist Dusko Jovanovic, editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Dan in Montenegro, was shot dead while he was leaving his office in Podgorica. Unidentified individuals shot him in the head and chest with an automatic rifle as he was entering his car just. Both Dan and Jovanovic's family reported that the editor had received numerous death threats, and the newspaper's office in Podgorica was set on fire in April 2003.

On 9 June 2004, police arrested Damir Mandic, a local figure belonging to organised crime. In October 2004, prosecutors charged Mandic with murder, citing evidence linking him to the vehicle used in the crime. In April 2009, Mandic was sentenced to 30 years in prison for being an accomplice in Jovanovic's murder.

The lawyer representing the Jovanovic family and Dan staff has criticised the police investigation for failing to identify Mandic's accomplices; not identifying who ordered the killing; and not investigating possible links between Mandic and Montenegrin authorities.

On 22 October 2015, the High Court of Podgorica found Mandić also guilty of aggravated homicide, and sentenced him to 18 years of imprisonment. The Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment on 2 March 2016, and Mandić’s appeal on matters of law before the Montenegrin Supreme Court was rejected on 22 June 2016.

According to the Government, the High State Prosecutor in Podgorica and the Special State Prosecutor pursue investigations to identify Mandić’s accomplices, and have requested international legal assistance from the Forensic Science Institute at Wiesbaden (Germany).

Alert: Impunity in the Case of the Murder of Dusko Jovanovic

Gadzhimurad Kamalov | 2011 | Russia

On 15 December 2011 in Makhachkala, the capital city of the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, Gadzhimurad Kamalov, founder and editor of the Chernovik newspaper in Dagestan, was shot dead by an unknown assailant as he left his office. A vocal critic of corruption and abuse of power, Kamalov and other journalists at Chernovik, had previously experienced a wide-range of attacks, from harassment, threats, and physical violence, to criminal charges and confiscation of copies of the newspaper.

The Dagestani authorities have failed to find any suspect or bring charges in this case. Investigators have failed to explore leads brought forward by Kamalov’s family, and refused their requests for the case to be investigated by Russia’s Federal Security Service.

Alert: Continued Impunity for Murder of Journalist Gadzimurad Kamalov in 2011

Photo: Saeed Karimian/GemTV

Saaed Karimian | 2017 | Turkey

Saaed Karimian, the Iranian-born British founder and chairman of General Entertainment Media (GEM) TV, and his business partner were shot dead by masked individuals in Istanbul, Turkey, on 29 April 2017. The car and the gun used in the attack were later found burnt.

GEM TV broadcasts foreign films and television programmes dubbed into Farsi language over satellite channels that, despite an official ban for “showing content that goes against Islamic values”, are popular in Iran. In 2016, a Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Karimian in absentia to six years in prison over charges of “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the state”. According to his relatives, Karimian had been threatened by the Iranian government and had considered moving to London over these threats.

Upon investigation by the Turkish police, Naci Sharif Zindaşti, an Iranian involved in narcotics and crime, was charged with instigating the murder of Karimian. On 11 October 2018, an Istanbul court released Zindaşti over the lack of material evidence, ordering his judicial control and an international travel ban. It is not being reported that any other perpetrator was brought to justice.

Alert: Founder and Chairman of the Iranian GEM TV Company Shot Dead

Timur Kuashev | 2014 | Russia

Timur Kuashev, the correspondent of Dosh, a magazine which covers mainly the Russian Caucasus went missing from his home on 31 July 2014. His body was discovered the following day in a suburb of Nalchik, the capital of the autonomous Kabardino-Balkar Republic. Kuashev was known for his investigations into abuses by the security forces in the course of anti-terrorism operations. He had received numerous threats and wrote about them in an open letter he published in April 2013, saying he was concerned for his life. No investigation into the case is being reported.

Alert: Dosh Investigative Journalist Timur Kuashev Murdered in Russian Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria Following Death Threats

Oleksandr Kuchynsk | 2014 | Ukraine

57-year-old Oleksandr Kuchynsk, a senior journalist editor of Criminal Express, a newspaper in Donetsk covering crime, was found murdered along with his wife on 29 November 2014 in the village of Bogorodychne near Slovyansk in war-torn Donetsk Oblast, according to police sources.

Officials of the Interior Ministry were quoted as saying that the couple was stabbed to death. Media reports added that Kuchynsk had gained a reputation from his investigations into the Donbass mafia.

According to the Government, the Sloviansk police is investigating the double murder, and a notice of suspicion was issued against a person on 30 October 2015. The investigation is pending in search for the suspect.

Alert: Senior Journalist Oleksandr Kuchynsk Killed in Donetsk, Ukraine

Picture: Press Eye

Martin O’Hagan | 2001 | United Kingdom

Martin O’Hagan, a reporter with the Sunday World, was shot dead on his way home with his wife in Lurgan, Armagh County, Northern Ireland, on 28 September 2001. The “Red Hand Defenders”, an operational name for the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), claimed responsibility for the murder.

O’Hagan investigated the activities of both Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups. In 1992, Belfast loyalist Billy Wright, then a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force, had attempted to have him killed. It has long been suspected that those who ordered his killing were paid police informants linked to the LVF. According to media, O’Hagan was targeted by the LVF for exposing the narcotics network they controlled, as well as assassinations and intimidation rackets they orchestrated.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has been calling the British and Irish governments to appoint a panel of independent, international experts to investigate both the murder and the failed police investigation.

Alert: Continued Impunity for Murder of Journalist Martin O'Hagan in 2001

Anna Politkovskaya | 2006 | Russia

On 7 October 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta journalist and one of Russia’s most respected investigative reporters, was found shot dead in a presumed contract killing in her apartment block in central Moscow. On 9 June 2014, after several arrests, releases and retrials, the Moscow’s highest criminal court sentenced five men to prison for the murder of the journalist. Two organisers of the team that murdered Anna Politkovskaya received life sentences in prison.

However, the investigation has still not revealed who stood behind the killing and the motive for the murder. Ms Politkovskaya wrote about human rights abuses in Chechnya and was known for her criticism of the policies of the Russian authorities.

On 17 July 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Mazepa and Others v. Russia, that the authorities had failed to carry out an effective investigation, in violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Alert: Masterminds still not Brought to Justice, Ten Years after the Murder of Novaya Gazeta Journalist Anna Politkovskaya

Nikolai Potapov | 2013 | Russia

Nikolai Potapov, the 66-year old founder and editor of the Selsovet (Village Council) newspaper, was gunned down in the Stavropol region on 18 May 2013. The newspaper exposed alleged corruption by local authorities, particularly with respect to land deals in which officials were accused of transferring state property to criminal gangs in neighbouring Caucasus regions. The newspaper’s uncompromising stance was the most likely motive for Potapov’s killing.

Authorities took suspects into custody shortly after the crime and in mid-August they said they had identified the mastermind behind the killing, but they did not release that person’s name.

Alert: Veteran Journalist Nikolai Potapov Gunned Down in Selsovet, Russia

Andrea Rocchelli and Andrei Mironov | 2014 | Ukraine

On 24 May 2014, Italian reporter Andrea Rocchelli, accompanied by Russian journalist and human rights activist Andrei Mironov and French photographer William Roguelon, were the victims of mortar fire on the Sloviansk southern front that killed Rocchelli and Mironov on the spot and inflicted serious leg injuries on Roguelon. These three experienced reporters were in civilian clothes and were travelling by taxi. They had press accreditation and had crossed ten checkpoints prior to the attack. Their presence was known and they could not be mistaken for military personnel or parties to the conflict.

An investigation was launched in Ukraine, which concluded that no evidence exist to find those responsible for this attack. However evidences and testimonies were not taken into account: Roguelon, as well as other key witnesses, was never heard, and the ballistic test did not manage to draw any useful conclusion. A complaint has been filed also by Roguelon in France and by the Rocchelli family in Italy, where the investigation led to the arrest, on 30 June 2017, of Vitaliy Markiv, a 28-year-old Italian-Ukrainian former volunteer fighter with the Ukrainian forces.

On 12 July 2019, an Italian court sentenced Markiv to 24 years of imprisonment, over his role in the killing of Rocchelli. The defendant denied the charges and vowed to appeal the sentence.

Alert: Ongoing Impunity in the Case of Killed Journalists Andrea Rocchelli, Andrei Mironov and Wounded Photographer William Roguelon

Pavel Sheremet | 2016 | Ukraine

Pavel Sheremet, a journalist working for online investigative newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda and Radio Vesti, was killed in a car explosion on 20 July 2016 in Kyiv. This car belonged to Olena Prytula, editor at Ukrayinska Pravda, but she wasn’t in the car at the time. The journalist was heading to the radio's office to host his morning show when the car exploded. Pavel Sheremet, 44, was a Belarusian journalist and TV host who was imprisoned by the government of Belarus in 1997 and has been working outside of Belarus for a long time. He previously worked in Russia as TV host and journalist before moving to Kyiv.

Alert: Journalist Pavel Sheremet Killed in Car Explosion

Rafiq Tagi | 2011 | Azerbaijan

Freelance journalist Rafiq Tagi, who contributed to Radio Free Europe’s Azerbaijani Service and was well-known for his criticism of authorities, died in hospital on 23 November 2011. He was receiving treatment having been stabbed in Baku on 19 November by an unknown assailant. In January 2014, Elcin Sadyqov, Tagi’s lawyer, reported that the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General's Office had informed him in writing that the probe into Tagi's death has ended.

Tagi’s family and rights groups have raised suspicions about the circumstances of his death, stating that he died suddenly as his condition stabilised and noting a lack of security in the hospital prior to his death. They have also raised multiple shortcomings in the process of the investigation into his death.

On 1 November 2014, Tagi’s widow filed application No. 72611/14 against Azerbaijan with the European Court of Human Rights, alleging a violation of Article 2 (right to life), Article 10 (freedom of expression) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Alert: Continued Impunity for Murder of Azerbaijani Journalist Rafiq Tagi

Viacheslav Veremii | 2014 | Ukraine

In February 2014, Viacheslav Veremii, a journalist for Vesti newspaper died of wounds he sustained in an attack allegedly perpetrated by the ”tytushki”, a group of youths suspected of working with the security forces under the former regime in Ukraine, according to the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine. The Union said that Veremii was shot and fatally wounded in the stomach. He was admitted to hospital on 18 February 2014 and later died.

On 22 December 2017, a district court in Kyiv convicted one of the main attackers and organisers of the assault on Veremii and sentenced him on hooliganism charges to four years suspended sentence with a probation period of two years. It is not being reported that the other perpetrators were brought to justice.

Alert: Journalist Viacheslav Veremii Killed in Kyiv

Dada Vujasinović | 1994 | Serbia

Radislava Dada Vujasinović, a Serbian journalist and reporter, was found shot dead at her parents’ home in Belgrade in the early hours of 8 April 1994. Immediately after the body’s discovery, the police said Vujasinović had shot herself with a hunting rifle but the family disputed this, pointing to omissions and inconsistences in the investigation including the failure to question neighbours and analyse evidence found at the scene.

Independent reports finally led to the reopening of the investigation but the Serb authorities were incapable of shedding any light on her death. In January 2013, the Serb government supported the creation of a commission of enquiry into the deaths of Vujasinović and two other Serb journalists, Slavko Ćuruvija and Milan Pantić.

On 16 April 2019, the Government informed that the forensic analysis of available objects and information by the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) did not allow to exclude either murder or suicide as the cause of Vujasinović’s death.

Alert: Impunity in the Case of the Murder of Dada Vujasinović

Photos: Darko Dozet, Jelena L. Petkovic, Foto Uns

Photo courtesy of Dijar Popova.

Photo courtesy of Maliqi's family.

14 Serbian and Albanian journalists | 1998-2005 | Serbia

14 Serbian and Albanian journalists were killed, kidnapped or abducted in Kosovo* between 1998 and 2005.

Nobody was ever brought to justice for these crimes.

On 6 June 2018, upon a joint motion of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS), the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) and the Journalists’ Union of Serbia (SINOS), the General Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists adopted a Resolution calling for prompt and effective investigation into these crimes against journalists in Kosovo* and calling on the Serbian and Kosovo* authorities to step up co-operation in the investigation of these cases.

*All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

Alert: Impunity for a Series of Killings, Kidnappings and Disappearances of Serbian and Albanian Journalists in 1998-2005