CROATIA: A monument to two Russian journalists killed in Croatia in 1991 is unveiled in the presence of war veterans and representatives from the Committee for the Protection of Journalists

Record ID: 1534507

  • Title: CROATIA: A monument to two Russian journalists killed in Croatia in 1991 is unveiled in the presence of war veterans and representatives from the Committee for the Protection of Journalists
  • Date: 22nd May 2011
  • Summary: PANJANI, CROATIA (MAY 21 2011) (REUTERS) CROATIAN WAR VETERAN IVICA PANDZA ORKAN, ONE OF THE ORGANISERS OF THE INITIATIVE (LEFT) AND RUSSIAN JOURNALIST VLADIMIR MUKUSEV (RIGHT) UNVEILING MONUMENT PLAQUE ON THE MONUMENT IN RUSSIAN (LEFT) READING: 'At this place on September 1, 1991 Russian journalists from Soviet Gostel radio Viktor Nogin and Gennady Kurennoy tragically lost their lives while on professional duty.' AND IN CROATIAN (RIGHT) READING: 'At this place on 1st of September 1991 in the early days of the patriotic war members of Serbian paramilitary troops ruthlessly killed Russian journalists Viktor Nogin and Gennady Kurennoy." PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN COMMITTEE FOR THE PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS ALEKSEI SIMONOV (LEFT) AND VLADIMIR MUKUSEV LIGHTING CANDLES LIT CANDLE REPRESENTATIVES OF CROATIAN WAR VETERANS ASSOCIATION LAYING A WREATH ON THE MONUMENT MONUMENT WITH FLOWERS AND CANDLES CANDLES WITH CROATIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Croatian) CROATIAN WAR VETERAN IVICA PANDZA ORKAN, SAYING: "We demand that Croatian judiciary, Russian federation judiciary, judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia start proceedings against the perpetrators. The two Russian journalists were killed at this place but the suspects live on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Our second demand is that those four states start co-operating in order to find the remains of the killed journalists so that they can be buried in Russia." ORKAN AND SIMONOV LOOKING AT EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO THE KILLED RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS SIMOVOV CLOSE SIMONOV AND PANDZA LOOKING AT NEWS CUTTINGS ON A BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PRESIDENT OF RUSSIAN COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF JOURNALISTS, ALEKSEI SIMONOV SAYING: " Part of the war is buried here, the part of the war that killed them. It is important we do everything we can to ensure this war remains six-feet under." CEREMONY IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2011 10:34
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Croatia, Croatia
  • Country: Croatia
  • Topics: Communications,War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA5K9VK8N9TZ4QVHBS42J21897N
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: A monument to two Russian journalists killed at the start of Croatia's war of independence by rebel Serb forces was unveiled in Croatia on Saturday (May 21).
    Viktor Nogin and Gennady Kurennoy, correspondents for Russian State Radio and TV, died in September 1, 1991, while reporting from the frontlines during heavy fighting between Croatian and Serb forces.
    Krajina Serb officials blamed Croatian forces for the killing, but later investigations by the Russian government and intelligence, organised by Russian journalist and former MP Vladimir Mukusev in 1994, showed that Nogin and Kurrennoy were killed in an ambush by interior ministry forces of Krajina Serbs acting under the orders of Milan Martic, a key leader of the rebel Serb forces and later president of the breakaway Serb Republic of Krajina.
    In Martic's trial in the Hague war crimes court, it emerged that special forces under his command ambushed the journalists' car, took the footage the men had filmed, shot them, burnt the vehicle and dumped it in a river.
    One of the fighters who took part in the operation survived and later testified at the trial in which Martic was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for crimes amounting to ethnic cleansing.
    To honour the twenty years since their death Vladimir Mukusev and the war veterans association of Croatia unveiled the monument to the two journalists at the site where they were killed, in the Croatian town of Hrvatska Kostajnica.
    The monument is the first to Russian journalists killed in the line of duty.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register