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Week Ending June 22, 2006

H.CON.RES.151 Noting the disturbing pattern of killings of dozens of independent journalists in Russia over the last decade, and calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to authorize cooperation with outside investigators in solving those murders.

<< Click flag for map and country data, Russia

Noting the unsolved 2004 murder of Paul Klebnikov, editor of ‘the Russian version of Forbes Magazine” who was investigating business corruption cases in Russia, the preamble goes on to add the shooting of Anna Politkovskaya, and acclaimed journalist and human rights activist and others as evidence for the conclusion that such murders will only be solved by outside law enforcement.

The resolution urges President Bush to provide US government law enforcement investigative assistance to help identify and bring to justice those responsible for the many unsolved murders of journalists in Russia over the past ten years.

More resolution below….

Sponsor:  Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ-4^th)

Vote: Passed House 388 to 1 June 18, 2007 (RC 500)

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost.

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Whereas Paul Klebnikov, the editor of the Russian version of Forbes Magazine who was investigating suspect business dealings and corruption cases in Russia, was shot to death in Moscow on July 9, 2004;

Whereas Mr. Klebnikov's murder remains unsolved;

Whereas Anna Politkovskaya, an acclaimed Russian journalist and human rights activist who wrote numerous articles critical of Russia's prosecution of the war in Chechnya, of human rights abuses by the Russian Government, and of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot to death in Moscow on October 7, 2006;

Whereas Ms. Politkovskaya's murder remains unsolved;

Whereas Ivan Safronov, a military affairs reporter for the Russian newspaper `Kommersant' who wrote articles criticizing the failure of Russian military programs and who was planning to report on potential Russian arms sales to Middle Eastern countries, including to state sponsors of terrorism Iran and Syria, died in mysterious circumstances, falling five stories from a window in the stairwell of his apartment building in Moscow on March 2, 2007;

Whereas Russian prosecutors subsequently suggested that Mr. Safronov may have committed suicide, although he left no suicide note and had just bought fresh fruit prior to his death;

Whereas the cause of Mr. Safronov's death remains undetermined;

Whereas according to the International News Safety Institute, close to 90 reporters were murdered in Russia between January 1996 and the present and a great many of those murders remain unsolved;

Whereas according to the International News Safety Institute, over the period of the last ten years Russia holds the second position in the world in the number of journalists killed;

Whereas a number of those reporters who were murdered had reported on alleged corruption, malfeasance, and other controversies at the federal, provincial, and local levels of Government in Russia;

Whereas a number of those murdered had reported on alleged human rights abuses by the Russian Government;

Whereas a number of those murdered had reported on the Russian Government's conduct of the war in Chechnya, which has involved numerous allegations of gross human rights violations and corruption; and

Whereas according to the President of the International News Safety Institute, `murder has become the easiest, cheapest and most effective way of silencing troublesome reporting, and the more the killers get away with it the more the spiral of death is forced upwards': Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) recalls the essential role that transparency and the free flow of information play in creating and preserving democratic institutions and civil society in any country;

(2) recognizes the vital contribution made by independent journalists in Russia in bringing transparency and a free flow of information to readers after decades of Communist censorship and repression;

(3) notes the disturbing trend of murders of independent journalists in Russia over the last decade;

(4) encourages the President of the United States to formally offer Russian President Vladimir Putin and other officials of the Russian Government United States Government law enforcement investigative assistance to help identify and bring to justice those responsible for the many unsolved murders of journalists in Russia during the past decade; and

(5) urges President Putin to seek out competent, outside law enforcement assistance in the investigation of the unsolved murders of numerous independent journalists in Russia.

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