Day of Remembrance for Journalists Who Died in the Performance of Their Professional Duties
The profession of a journalist today is one of the most dangerous. Unfortunately, these brave people often have to pay with their own lives for "freedom of speech". And military correspondents do not always become victims. Journalists are also dying in countries where there are no hostilities, at the hands of those who do not want the public to learn the "unsightly" truth about their actions.
Today in our country is celebrated the Day of Remembrance of the journalists who died in the line of duty. The memorable date was officially established in 1991. Then, covering the events in Yugoslavia, our compatriots Viktor Nogin and Gennady Kurennoy gave their lives. The memorable date, which has since been celebrated on December 15, was established at the initiative of the Union of Journalists of Russia.
It is worth noting that dozens of media workers are killed worldwide every year. So, in 2013-2014, about 40 journalists gave their lives in Syria alone.
The "workers of the pen" also perished during the conflict in the East of Ukraine. So, in 2014, fulfilling their professional duty, employees of the domestic media, Andrei Stenin, Anatoly Klyan, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, gave their lives.
By the way about Ukraine. It was this country that was recognized as "the most dangerous for journalists" in 2014. Just think, from November 2013 to July 2014, 7 media workers died in Ukraine and more than 170 were injured in one way or another. This is the official data of the OSCE.
However, as mentioned above, the death of journalists is associated not only with work in "hot spots". Returning to Ukraine again, let's remember the still unsolved murders of Georgy Gangadze and Oles Buzina. Both crimes have an overt political connotation, but, most likely, they will never be solved.
Unfortunately, journalists in our country are not immune from "reprisals" either. We all remember the cases of Dmitry Kholodov, Vlad Listyev, Anna Politkovskaya and other "workers of the pen", neither the customer nor the perpetrator of whose murder was ever found.
Finally, it is worth recalling Julian Assange. On the eve of the High Court of London decided to extradite him to the United States. There, the whistleblower journalist, thanks to whom many war crimes and incidents of corruption in the highest echelons of government in the United States and other countries were made public, face up to 175 years in prison.
But whether he will live to see the trial, once in the United States, and will not "commit suicide" in an American prison - the question remains open. Indeed, very influential people are interested in his "silence".
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