| "Reporters Without Borders said violence against journalists in Ukraine is now worse than in any other European country." � Associated Press |
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Ukrainian Television Director Beaten MOSCOW (AP) � A Ukrainian television station director who had been banned from journalism and took his case to an international human rights court was beaten to death by assailants wielding bats, news reports said Saturday. Ihor Alexandrov was attacked Tuesday at the entrance to his office in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk, the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said. He died of head injuries after three days in the hospital, Russia's ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies reported. Reporters Without Borders said violence against journalists in Ukraine is now worse than in any other European country. The group appealed to Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh to take personal control of the investigation into Alexandrov's beating. The motive for the assault was unclear. Alexandrov ran the TOR television company in Slavyansk, in the industrial Donetsk region. In 1998, a local court sentenced him to two years in prison and banned him from working as a journalist for five years allegedly violating laws on campaign coverage, Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. He was acquitted last year after a legal battle that included taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Human rights groups have expressed increasing concern about journalists in Ukraine following the death last fall of Heorhiy Gongadze, an Internet journalist who criticized the nation's leadership and crusaded against corruption. His headless body was found a few weeks after his disappearance, which prompted months of protests and accusations that President Leonid Kuchma and his aides were involved. Kuchma denies the claim. AP-NY-07-07-01 1325EDT The original of the above article can be found online on the The Associated Press web site at www.newsday.com/ap/international/ap814.htm |