DATE=2/28/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / BABITSKY 2ND UPDATE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259641
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Russian journalist arrested after filing
reports critical of the war in Chechnya has reportedly
been flown from Dagestan to Moscow after beginning a
hunger strike. V-O-A's Peter Heinlein in the Russian
capital reports the country's Acting President has
asked authorities to review the case of Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Andrei Babitsky.
TEXT: Mr. Babitsky, a Russian citizen employed by the
U-S government-funded radio station, was originally
taken into custody in January while on a reporting
trip in Chechnya.
But days after detaining him, officials announced the
journalist had been traded to a Chechen rebel
commander in a bizarre swap for several captured
Russian soldiers. He was not heard from again until
last Friday, when police in the neighboring Dagestan
region say they discovered him during a routine
document check in a bar.
Officers say he had a fake passport indicating he was
from Azerbaijan. His lawyers say the passport was
planted on him.
Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday took a
seemingly contradictory position on the Babitsky case.
He told reporters he was asking police and prosecutors
to review the need to keep the journalist in
detention. But at the same time the Russian leader
said the case should be dealt with according to law,
and Mr. Putin appeared to question Mr. Babitsky's
journalistic integrity.
/// PUTIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ///
He says "Andrei Babitsky's main job was not just
covering events, but selling certain information to a
particular market". Mr. Putin added that the
journalist had done the job well, but had gotten
himself into a difficult situation.
Mr. Babitsky's reports from behind enemy lines often
contradicted official statements, and infuriated
Russian authorities, many of whom openly branded him a
traitor. One of his attorneys, Genry Reznik, told a
radio interviewer Monday the real issue at stake in
the Babitsky case is the government's attempt to crack
down on press freedoms that developed during the post-
Soviet era.
/// REZNIK ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ///
He says "the real reason he is being kept in jail is
that they consider his professional activities (as a
journalist) to be criminal, but they can't come out
and say it."
Mr. Reznik suggested officials are trying to smear Mr.
Babitsky to justify their handling of the case.
/// 2nd REZNIK ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO. ///
He says "They are resorting to the old methods. They
need to compromise Mr. Babitsky, show he is an enemy,
so that what they have done by arresting him seems
fair."
Mr. Reznik and officials at Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty have repeatedly called for the journalist's
immediate release. Earlier, prosecutors rejected the
demand, saying Mr. Babitsky was refusing to answer
questions or cooperate with investigators. (Signed)
NEB/PFH/KL
28-Feb-2000 16:44 PM EDT (28-Feb-2000 2144 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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