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Iskandar Khatloni

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Iskandar Khatloni (Tajik: Искандар Хатлонӣ; October 1954 – September 21, 2000) was a journalist from Tajikistan who worked for Radio Free Europe and was murdered in Moscow, Russia while covering the Second Chechen War.

Life

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In the 1980s at the onset of glasnost in the Soviet Union Khatloni began worked as a BBC correspondent.[1] In 1996, he became a correspondent for the Tajik language division of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe. In addition to his journalistic work, Khatloni was a distinguished poet and published four volumes of verse.[2]

Before his death, Khatloni had been assigned to Moscow to report on human rights abuses in Chechnya.[2]

Murder

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On the evening of 22 September 2000 Khatloni was attacked inside his Moscow apartment by an unknown, axe-wielding assailant. Khatloni was struck twice in the head and then stumbled onto the street and collapsed. He was later found by a passerby and taken to Moscow's Botkin Hospital, where he died that night of a serious head wound.[3]

Speculation surrounding Khatloni's murder has focused on his coverage of the war in Chechnya, a politically sensitive topic that brought great peril to Russian-based journalists covering the subject. Just the previous spring, Igor Domnikov of Novaya Gazeta had been murdered while covering abuses by the Russian armed forces in Chechnya.[2] Radio Free Europe's coverage of the Chechen conflict had caused the Russian Media Ministry to declare earlier in the year that the independent radio station was "hostile to our state."[3] Moscow police opened an investigation of Khatloni's murder, but no arrests were ever made in the case.[2][4]

Khatloni was survived by his wife Kimmat and a daughter from a previous marriage. He was buried in his native Tajikistan.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "RFE/RL Journalist Slain in Moscow". Radio Free Europe. 2000. Archived from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Dine Decries Murder Of RFE/RL Journalist". Radio Free Europe. 2000. Archived from the original on 2008-02-17. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  3. ^ a b "Journalist Murdered In Moscow". Committee to Protect Journalists. 2000. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  4. ^ "Journalist killed". International Press Institute. 2000. Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
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