vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #553 / Crime watch / Reading article...

Two journalists were attacked in separate cases in the Primorye cities of Vladivostok and Partizansk on January 19 and January 20, one of the attacks becoming fatal. Vladivostok police have managed to detain three suspects in the murder case.

Konstantin Borovko, a 25-year-old TV reporter from Khabarovsk, was fatally beaten to death in Vladivostok on January 20, police said. Borovko was a student of the Far Eastern University where he studied mass telecommunications. He anchored a morning program on entertainment and cultural events on Guberniya, a television station in the neighboring Khabarovsk Territory.

Borovko and his acquaintance, whose name was not revealed during the investigation, were leaving a Vladivostok night club ‘Tabu’ in the early hours of Saturday when they became involved in a fight with unknown attackers. Borovko died on the spot from a concussion. Police questioned Borovko’s acquaintance, they reported. On Tuesday they arrested three suspects in the case. However, no charges have been filed, prosecutors said.

Police have launched a criminal investigation into the case. The murder is not related to Borovko’s professional activities as a journalist, investigators said.

In another case, Tamara Golovanova, a reporter performing her professional activities in the Primorye city of Partizansk was assaulted on January 20, the Vladivostok reported.

Golovanova was writing a story about the Partizansk center for the unemployed and was taking pictures of a huge line of people awaiting their subsidies when she was approached by a man who demanded that she stop. He then attacked Golovanova and hit her on the head. Golovanova was taken to the hospital with a head concussion and doctors said she would need at least a month to recover. Golovanova works for Partizansk-based newspaper ‘Vesti’.

The Partizansk prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the case defined as ‘interference with the professional activities of a reporter.’

Russia is among the most dangerous countries for journalists, notorious for numerous attacks on reporters who dare criticize or seek to investigate corruption and injustice on the part of government officials. The International Federation of Journalists revealed this month that more than 200 journalists had been killed in Russia since 1993.