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The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today urged an investigation into the murder of Indian journalist Sai Reddy in Basaguda village in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh on 06 December.

“I condemn the murder of Sai Reddy,” the Director-General said. “I urge the authorities to investigate this crime. Violence against media workers undermines the ability of journalists to carry out their work freely as well as the right of citizens to receive the independent information they need,” Ms Bokova concluded.

Said Reddy, a reporter for the Hindi-language newspaper Deshbandhu, died on the way to hospital after he was beaten and stabbed in the market of Basaguda village.

This year, the Director-General condemned four deadly attacks on journalists in India, including the present case. Her statements can be found in the dedicated page, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.

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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray(at)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 “further 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.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate 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…”