DATE=2/3/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / CHECHNYA / JOURNALIST (L)
NUMBER=2-258788
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russia says it has swapped a Radio Liberty
journalist arrested in Chechnya in exchange for three
Russian soldiers captured by Chechen rebels. V-O-A
Moscow Correspondent Peter Heinlein reports there is
no information about the journalist's whereabouts.
TEXT: Russia's chief spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei
Yastrzhembsky, stunned reporters at a news briefing
Thursday, announcing that correspondent Andrei
Babitsky of the U-S government-funded Radio Liberty
had been turned over to Chechen rebels.
/// YASTRZHEMBSKY ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
He says "Andrei Babitskty agreed to such an exchange.
In return, the rebels released three Russian
soldiers."
The spokesman showed reporters what he said was a copy
of Mr. Babitsky's written agreement to the swap. He
said federal authorities are no longer responsible for
the journalist's safety.
/// OPT /// Mr. Babitsky's reports from the war
zone have won him international acclaim. But he is
disliked by Russian authorities, who accuse him of
cooperating with the rebels.
/// OPT /// He disappeared last month during a
reporting trip that took him to the Chechen capital,
Grozny. Russian authorities at first denied knowing
his whereabouts, but later admitted he had been taken
into custody. /// END OPT ///
In announcing the swap, spokesman Yastrzhembsky read
from what he said was a letter from a Chechen rebel
commander proposing the exchange. In the letter, the
commander called Mr. Babitsky "our friend who was
standing shoulder to shoulder with us defending the
interests of the Chechen people."
Radio Liberty broadcasting director Jeff Trimble, who
attended Mr. Yastrzhembsky's briefing, questioned the
letter's authenticity.
/// TRIMBLE ACT ONE ///
It's what I heard Mr. Yastrzhembsky read. I
don't have any way to know, however, whether it
reflects genuinely what has happened to Andrei
Babitsky.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Trimble said Radio Liberty objected strongly to
the conditions of Mr. Babitsky's detention.
/// TRIMBLE ACT TWO ///
I can express my strong concern that Russian
authorities had had Mr. Babitsky in detention
for more than two weeks without giving him the
opportunity to contact his wife, to have access
to lawyers, to speak to us here in Moscow, and
in fact they would not even give us his
location. So we are deeply concerned about what
happened to Mr. Babitsky during that time and of
course what his condition is now.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Other Radio Liberty journalists were
even stronger in their criticism of the Russian
action. Editor Mikhail Sokolov called the exchange
story a fabrication designed to discredit Mr.
Babitsky.
The journalists wife, Lyudmilla Babitskaya, said she
agreed the government version is hard to believe. In
a V-O-A interview, Ms. Babitskay said she could not
understand how authorities could say they are no
longer responsible for her husband's safety.
/// BABITSKAYA ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
She says "How can they have no responsibility for a
Russian citizen? For his life. They just handed him
over to captivity and shifted responsibility from
themselves."
/// END OPT ///
Radio Liberty president Thomas Dine condemned the swap
of Mr. Babitsky, saying it violates universally
recognized principles of human rights. Mr. Dine said
Russia's action suggests Moscow hopes to make the
journalist a pawn in its war on its own citizens, and
said "it raises concern about Mr. Babitsky's physical
well-being prior to the exchange."
Radio Liberty is part of the U-S government funded
Radio Free Europe, which was established during the
Cold War to provide independent news to the Soviet
Union and its satellite states. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/JWH/ENE/KL
03-Feb-2000 11:59 AM EDT (03-Feb-2000 1659 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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