List of journalists killed in Tajikistan
Encyclopedia
This is a list of journalists
who have been killed in Tajikistan
or journalists from Tajikistan killed outside of the country since 1990. Listees include those known to have been murdered
, as well as cases of suspicious deaths.
liberalized under glasnost
and perestroika
. Journalists in both private and state-run media were permitted greater editorial and investigative freedoms to report on issues and to challenge government propaganda
. But journalists ran into danger when they publicly confronted powerful interests or reported on violent events. The first journalistic death in Tajikistan occurred on 12 February 1990 when a sniper in a government building opened fire on demonstrators in Dushanbe
, killing a number of individuals, including a Lenfilm
employee filming the events from his hotel. Following the events of February 1990, the government placed pressure on editors to fire dozens of journalists working for local television stations
, radio stations
and newspapers.
Journalists continued to face official harassment through the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan in 1991. In mid-1992 the Civil War in Tajikistan began, and journalists became targets for killings. During the war, forces of the opposition and the government both massacred civilians from certain regions because of their perceived political alignments. Thousands of Gharmis and Pamiris were selectively killed by pro-government forces for killings in the first year of the war. In December 1992 alone, four journalists of Pamiri origin were killed. There were also instances of journalists who were killed for their criticism of Islamic groups allied with the opposition. By 1995 at least 37 journalists had been killed in Tajikistan.
By the late 1990s, the number of killings of journalists in Tajikistan began to fall. This was not due to greater press freedoms in the republic, but rather to the fact that a large number of journalists had fled the country and journalistic freedom of expression inside of Tajikistan had come to a halt. The non-governmental organization
Freedom House
rated press freedoms in Tajikistan as "Not Free" beginning in 1992. Other NGOs, including Human Rights Watch
, the Committee to Protect Journalists
and the Glasnost Defense Foundation
, have issued reports condemning the lack of press freedoms in Tajikistan. By 2007 the murder of journalists had ceased, but that year Human Rights Watch criticized the government of Tajikistan for its move to “tighten control over independent media activities” and the fact that journalists critical of the government are “routinely threatened with prosecution.” In nearly every case of the killing of a journalist in Tajikistan, no suspects have been arrested or brought to trial.
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
who have been killed in Tajikistan
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
or journalists from Tajikistan killed outside of the country since 1990. Listees include those known to have been murdered
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
, as well as cases of suspicious deaths.
History
From 1990-2001 Tajikistan was one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Estimates for the number of journalists killed number from fifty to eighty. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, journalism in Tajikistan underwent a transformation as the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
liberalized under glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
and perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
. Journalists in both private and state-run media were permitted greater editorial and investigative freedoms to report on issues and to challenge government propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. But journalists ran into danger when they publicly confronted powerful interests or reported on violent events. The first journalistic death in Tajikistan occurred on 12 February 1990 when a sniper in a government building opened fire on demonstrators in Dushanbe
Dushanbe
-Economy:Coal, lead, and arsenic are mined nearby in the cities of Nurek and Kulob allowing for the industrialization of Dushanbe. The Nurek Dam, the world's highest as of 2008, generates 95% of Tajikistan's electricity, and another dam, the Roghun Dam, is planned on the Vakhsh River...
, killing a number of individuals, including a Lenfilm
Lenfilm
Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...
employee filming the events from his hotel. Following the events of February 1990, the government placed pressure on editors to fire dozens of journalists working for local television stations
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, radio stations
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and newspapers.
Journalists continued to face official harassment through the fall of the Soviet Union and the independence of Tajikistan in 1991. In mid-1992 the Civil War in Tajikistan began, and journalists became targets for killings. During the war, forces of the opposition and the government both massacred civilians from certain regions because of their perceived political alignments. Thousands of Gharmis and Pamiris were selectively killed by pro-government forces for killings in the first year of the war. In December 1992 alone, four journalists of Pamiri origin were killed. There were also instances of journalists who were killed for their criticism of Islamic groups allied with the opposition. By 1995 at least 37 journalists had been killed in Tajikistan.
By the late 1990s, the number of killings of journalists in Tajikistan began to fall. This was not due to greater press freedoms in the republic, but rather to the fact that a large number of journalists had fled the country and journalistic freedom of expression inside of Tajikistan had come to a halt. The non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
rated press freedoms in Tajikistan as "Not Free" beginning in 1992. Other NGOs, including Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
, the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
and the Glasnost Defense Foundation
Glasnost Defense Foundation
Glasnost Defense Foundation is a non-profit organization with the stated goals are the defense of journalists, journalism, and the freedom of expression in Russia...
, have issued reports condemning the lack of press freedoms in Tajikistan. By 2007 the murder of journalists had ceased, but that year Human Rights Watch criticized the government of Tajikistan for its move to “tighten control over independent media activities” and the fact that journalists critical of the government are “routinely threatened with prosecution.” In nearly every case of the killing of a journalist in Tajikistan, no suspects have been arrested or brought to trial.
1990
- N.I. Matrosov was a LenfilmLenfilmKinostudiya "Lenfilm" is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios,...
employee. He was in Dushanbe when a confrontation between the protestors and government forces broke out. Matrosov was shot on 12 February at 3:40 p.m. when a sniper from government building opened fire on demonstrators in Dushanbe. Matrosov was filming the event from the second floor of his Tajikistan hotel room. In the same incident, a woman was killed as she stood beside her brother, photojournalist who was photographing the incident.
1992
- Khushvaht Muborakshoev worked for Tajikistan State Television. He was killed in December at an unknown location by members of the People's Front, according to local journalists. He was a Pamiri.
- Filolisho Khilvatshoev worked for Payomi Dushanbe. He was killed in December at an unknown location by members of the People's Front, according to local journalists. He was a Pamiri.
- Jamshed Davliyatmamatov was a correspondent of the state-run Khovar Information Agency. He was killed in December in Dushanbe by members of the People's Front. He was a Pamiri.
- Mukhtor Bugdiev was a photojournalistPhotojournalismPhotojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
with the state-run Khovar Information Agency. He was reportedly killed in December by members of the People's Front. Bugdiev was a Pamiri.
- Tavakkal Faizulloev, a KulobKulobKulob , also Kulab or Kulyab , is a city in Kulob district, Khatlon Province, Tajikistan. Located 203 km south-east of the capital Dushanbe on the Yakhsu River , it is one of the largest cities in the country Kulob , also Kulab or Kulyab , is a city in Kulob district, Khatlon Province, Tajikistan....
i, was a correspondent for the newspaper Subhi Yovon in Yovon districtYovon districtYovon District or Nohiya-i Yovon is a district in Khatlon province, Tajikistan. Its capital is Yovon....
, Kulob OblastKhatlonKhatlon Province , sometimes misspelt Khatlan, one of the three provinces of Tajikistan and is the most populous of the four first level administrative regions. It is situated in the southwest of the country, between the Hisor Range in the north and the Panj River in the south and borders on...
. On 17 November he was murdered in retaliation for writing anti-Islamic articles. The exact location of his death is unknown.
- Arcady RudermanArcady RudermanArcady Abramovich Ruderman was a Belarusian documentary filmmaker who was killed during the Civil war in Tajikistan in 1992.-Biography:Arcady Ruderman was born in 1955 in Minsk, capital of the Byelorussian SSR....
was a Belarusian documentary filmmaker who was killed on 22 September while filming a documentary for OstankinoChannel One (Russia)Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...
about opposition leader Davlat KhudonazarovDavlat KhudonazarovDavlat Khudonazarov, is a Pamiri Tajik filmmaker, politician and human rights activist. Davlat was born 13 March 1944 in Khorugh, Tajikistan.- Political career :...
.
- Tura Kobilov was editor of the newspaper Bairaki Dusti. In June 1992 he was taken hostage and later shot and killed in Bokhtar districtBokhtar districtBokhtar District or Nohiya-i Bokhtar is a district in Khatlon Province, Tajikistan, surrounding the provincial capital Qurghonteppa. Its administrative capital is the village of Ismoil Somoni...
by unidentified captors, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.
- Shirindzhon Amirdzhonov was a correspondent for Tajikistan Radio. On 7 May he was killed along with Olim Zarobekov at the government-run Radio House in Dushanbe, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.
- Olim Zarobekov was a departmental head at Tajikistan Radio. On 7 May he was killed along with Shirindzhon Amirdzhonov at the government-run Radio House in Dushanbe, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.
- Murodullo Sheraliev was editor-in-chief of the newspaper Sadoi Mardum. On 5 May Sheraliev was killed by shot in the Tajikistan Supreme Soviet in Dushanbe, according to the Union of Journalists of Tajikistan.
1993
- Tabarali Saidaliev was editor of the newspaper Ba Pesh. On 21 October he was kidnapped and his body was found in a cotton field three days later. The men who kidnapped him were dressed as security agents.
- Olimjon Yorasonov worked for the a regional newspaper in Vakhsh, Khatlon Province, and was killed in June or July. According to local journalists Yorasonov was murdered by the members of the militia People's Front.
- Pirimkul Sattori was a journalist from the QurghonteppaQurghonteppaQurghonteppa or Kurganteppa is a city in southwestern Tajikistan. It is the capital of the Khatlon region and it is located 100 km from Dushanbe. It is estimated that the population of the city is close to 85,000 people, making it the third-largest city in the country. The population...
newspaper Khatlon, who disappeared 28 May in Kulob oblastKhatlonKhatlon Province , sometimes misspelt Khatlan, one of the three provinces of Tajikistan and is the most populous of the four first level administrative regions. It is situated in the southwest of the country, between the Hisor Range in the north and the Panj River in the south and borders on...
. His body was found several days later in a cotton field.
- Zukhuruddin Suyari was a correspondent for the government magazine Todzhikiston. His body was found in Qurghonteppa at the end of March. It is suspected that Suyari was murdered by National Front members because his was Gharmi.
- Saidmurod Yerov was the director of the executive director of Farkhang magazine. In January 1993 Yerov was arrested by the National Front. His body was reportedly found in a mass grave in Dushanbe on 2 February.
1994
- Khushvakht Haydarsho was secretary of the editorial board of the Tajik-language government newspaper Jumhuriyat. On 18 May he was shot dead near his home in Dushanbe. It is believed that his death is connected to a series of articles he published on crime in Tajikistan.
1995
- Muhiddin Olimpur was found shot outside a park in Dushanbe in December. He was the head of the BBC's Persian Service bureau in Dushanbe.
- Muhammadsharif Holov was a writer and freelance journalist. On 16 November, Holov was killed when around 23:00 an unknown man in a mask entered his apartment and shot him with an automatic rifle. Holov was born in the village Olmalik in Tajikabad District on 4 February 1928. As a youth he had worked in the theatre and served in the military. He later went on to author several plays, become director of the Tajik State Youth Theatre, and was a member of the Writers' Union of Tajikistan.
- “TKD” Pochohona Sayfiddinov was a proofreader in the newspaper "Hakikati Kurgonteppa" and correspondent for the newspaper "Adabiet wa". He frequently published under the pseudonymPseudonymA pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Rustoi. On 29 September, Sayfiddinov's body was found in the Vakhsh RiverVakhsh RiverThe Vakhsh has been intensively developed for human use. Electricity, aluminum, and cotton are the mainstays of Tajikistan’s economy, and the Vakhsh is involved with all three of these sectors. Hydroelectricity provides 91% of the country’s electricity as of 2005, and 90% of that total comes from...
near the village of Kyzyl-Kala outside of QurghonteppaQurghonteppaQurghonteppa or Kurganteppa is a city in southwestern Tajikistan. It is the capital of the Khatlon region and it is located 100 km from Dushanbe. It is estimated that the population of the city is close to 85,000 people, making it the third-largest city in the country. The population...
. His body had been brutalized before being dumped in the river. He and his driver, Todzhiddin Homidov, had had their car stopped a few days earlier were stopped by unknown gunmen. Sayfiddinov was born on 2 August 1962 in the village Boturobod in Bokhtar districtBokhtar districtBokhtar District or Nohiya-i Bokhtar is a district in Khatlon Province, Tajikistan, surrounding the provincial capital Qurghonteppa. Its administrative capital is the village of Ismoil Somoni...
. In 1986 he graduated from the Arabic languageArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
faculty of the school of Oriental languageOrientalismOrientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
of Tajik State University. It is suspected that Sayfiddinov was murdered because he was a close friend of politician Abdumalik Abdullojanov and had published articles about him, which had been criticized in the official press.
- Muhammadmuslih Nadzhibulloev was a freelance writer and student in the Department of Journalism at the Tajik State University in Dushanbe. 0n 4 July, Nadzhibulloev was stabbed to death by unknown assailants. His body was found in Komsomolskaya Lake in the center of Dushanbe two days later. A few days before the his death, Nadzhibulloev had defended a comparative analysis of the censorship of the independent newspaper Charogi and the modern press in Tajikistan. Nadzhibulloev was born in March 1974 in the village Vora in Panjakent districtPanjakent districtPanjakent District or Nohiya-i Panjakent is a district in Sughd province, Tajikistan. Its capital is Panjakent.-Administrative divisions:The district is divided administratively into jamoats. They are as follows .-References:...
, SughdSughdSughd Province is one of the four administrative divisions and one of the three provinces that make up Tajikistan. Centered in the historical Sogdiana, it is located in the northwest of the country, with an area of some 25,400 square kilometers and a population of 2,132,100 , up from 1,870,000...
.
- Olim Abdulov was director and writer for the Television program "Madzhro". On the evening of 15 May he was killed near his home by unknown persons. Abdulov was born 2 July 1970 in Dushanbe. He had graduated from in 1992 from the Institute of the Arts.
- Zayniddin Muhiddinov was a freelance writer and former editor of the newspaper Hakikat. On 14 March, unidentified men in camouflage uniforms shot dead Muhiddinov in the Leninsky districtRudaki districtRudaki District or Nohiyai Rudaki is a district in the Region of Republican Subordination in Tajikistan. It stretches south from Dushanbe, bordering on Shahrinaw, Hisor, and Varzob districts from the north and northwest, Tajikistan's Khatlon Province from the south and the east, and Uzbekistan...
.
1996
- Viktor Nikulin was a correspondent for Russian Public Television (ORT)Channel One (Russia)Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...
in Dushanbe. Nikulin was fatally shot at the door to his office on 28 March. He had received three threatening telephone calls a week before he was killed.
1998
- Otakhon LatifiOtakhon LatifiOtakhon Latifi was a noted journalist and politician from Tajikistan.He was born in the town of Pendjikent. Under the Soviet Union, he was both Pravda and Izvestiyas correspondent in Tajikistan at various times...
was an opposition politician member and one of the most notable journalists in Tajikistan. On 22 September, at around 8am, Latifi was shot at point blank range outside his apartment in Dushanbe.
- Meirkhaim GavrielovMeirkhaim GavrielovMeirkhaim Gavrielov was a journalist murdered in Tajikistan.- Life :Meirkhaim Gavrielov was a prominent member of Tajikistani media for fifty years. Gavrielov was born in 1927 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. He studied philology at Samarkand State Pedagogical Institute...
was a prominent leader of the Bukharian JewishBukharan JewsBukharan Jews, also Bukharian Jews or Bukhari Jews, or яҳудиёни Бухоро Yahūdieni Bukhoro , Bukhori Hebrew Script: יהודיאני בוכאראי and יהודיאני בוכארי), also called the Binai Israel, are Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Tajik-Persian language...
community in Tajikistan and journalist for fifty years. He was found strangled in his home on 8 June.
1999
- Dzhumakhon Khotami was the chief spokesperson for the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan. On 5 July he was assassinatedAssassinationTo carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
in Dushanbe. Khotami had been the anchor of a weekly TV program that reported on drug traffickingIllegal drug tradeThe illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
, corruptionPolitical corruptionPolitical corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and organized crimeOrganized crimeOrganized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
. Speculation for his death revolves around the drug bosses whose name’s he revealed publicly on television.
2000
- Iskandar KhatloniIskandar KhatloniIskandar Khatloni was a journalist from Tajikistan who worked for Radio Free Europe and was murdered in Moscow, Russia while covering the Second Chechen War.-Life:...
was a Moscow-based correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tajik Service. On the night of 21 September, Khatloni was attacked in his Moscow apartment by an unknown assailant wielding an axe. He died that night in a local hospital. Khatloni had recently been working on stories about the human-rights abuses in Chechnya
- Aleksandr Alpatov was a photographer for the Khovar Information Agency. The Interior Ministry of Tajikistan reported on 1 September that Alpatov's body was found not far from his home in Dushanbe. He was 42 when he died. Authorities reported that he had been killed by a handgun equipped with a silencerSuppressorA suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....
.
See also
- Human rights in TajikistanHuman rights in TajikistanHuman rights in Tajikistan remain poor. Corruption continued to hamper democratic and social reform. The following human rights problems were reported: restricted right of citizens to change their government; torture and abuse of detainees and other personsby security forces; threats and abuse by...
- List of newspapers in Tajikistan
- Civil War in Tajikistan