News
Director-General calls on Russia to bring the killers of journalist Dmitry Popkov to justice
Irina Bokova today condemned the killing of investigative Russian journalist Dmitry Popkov on 24 May in the Russian Federation.
鈥淚 condemn the murder of Dmitry Popkov and call on the relevant authorities to bring to trial those responsible for his assassination,鈥 said the Director-General.
Unidentified assailants shot Popkov, the editor-in-chief and co-founder of independent local newspaper Ton-M, in his backyard in the city of Minusinsk in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk Krai.
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鈥檚 General Conference of 1997, entitled 鈥淐ondemnation of Violence against Journalists.鈥 These statements are posted on a dedicated webpage, .
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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 鈥渇urther 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.鈥 To realize this the Organization is requested to 鈥渃ollaborate 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鈥︹
