08 Feb 11 | Index Index, minipost
The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent has been expelled from Russia. Luke Harding attempted to re-enter Russia on the weekend, instead his visa was annulled and he was detained in an airport cell for 45 minutes before being returned to the UK on the next available flight. He was told: “For you Russia is closed“. This is thought to be the first incident of this kind since the cold war ended, the Russians are yet to provide an official explanation. Harding’s removal came after he reported on claims made in leaked US diplomatic cables that Russia had become a “virtual Mafia state” under Vladimir Putin, he also also co-authored Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy.
13 Dec 10 | Index Index, minipost
A Russian court has overturned a slander verdict against investigative reporter Mikhail Beketov. On Friday (Dec 10) a Khimki court reversed last month’s conviction, Beketov was originally fined 5,000 roubles after he accused the local mayor of setting fire to his car. The incident left the journalist brain-damaged, unable to speak and crippled. The attacks on Beketov are alleged to be related to his investigation into construction of a motorway through the Khimki forest, which he linked to powerful political and business interests.
23 Nov 10 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Khusein Shadiyev, editor of Serdalo newspaper (Ingushetia – North Caucasus) has been hospitalised with a gunshot wound on Monday, ITAR-TASS reported.
The journalist’s driver said a Zhiguli car drove up alongside the editor’s Volga, and gunshots were fired out of the vehicle’s half-open window, hitting Shadiyev’s right shoulder, according to Kommersant. The aggressors quickly fled the scene and are still at large.
Shadiyev’s colleagues believe that the attack was related to the reporter’s work.
10 Nov 10 | Index Index, minipost
A Russian editor who was nearly killed in the attack two years ago, has been convicted of slander.
Mikhail Beketov, who is confined to a wheelchair and can barely speak, has been found guilty of insulting the local mayor by the court in Khimki. He has been instructed to compensate damages by paying 500 roubles (100 British pounds).
Beketov had been covering the plans to build the road through Khimki’s protected forest. Although the motorway works have been stopped, another journalist and an ecologist have been assaulted this month.
Oleg Kashin, a correspondent of Russia’s well-known paper Kommersant, has been badly beaten with an iron bar on Saturday. Two days earlier, Khimki opposition activist Konstantin Fetisov had his skull broken after being released from police, where he was questioned about the protest.
Mikhail Mikhailin, editor-in-chief of Kommersant said he is sure the attacks are connected to the articles written about the motorway. It has also been said that they carry the same signature.
Before Beketov endured brain damage and lost his right leg and four fingers in the attack in November 2008, his car was set on fire and his dog was killed. Nobody has been brought to court.
