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Director-General urges Russian authorities to investigate the death of journalist Nikolay Andrushchenko in St Petersburg

24 April 2017

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today called on the authorities to investigate the attack that led to the death of Russian journalist Nikolay Andrushchenko on 19 April, some six weeks after he was beaten by unknown assailants.

“I condemn the attack on Nikolay Andrushchenko,” said the Director-General. “I call on the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into this act of violence, which is a blow to freedom of expression, and bring its perpetrators to justice.”

Seventy-three-year-old Nikolay Andrushchenko, co-founder and editor of the newspaper Novy Petersburg, was hospitalized in St Petersburg on 9 March following a beating by unknown assailants.

The Director-General of UNESCO issues statements on the killing of media workers in line with Resolution 29 adopted by UNESCO Member States at the Organization’s General Conference of 1997, entitled “Condemnation of Violence against Journalists.” These statements are posted on a dedicated webpage, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray@unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12

UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”