Dmitry Kholodov

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Dmitry Kholodov
Дмитрий Холодов
Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
OccupationJournalist

Dmitry Yuryevich Kholodov (Russian: Дми́трий Ю́рьевич Хо́лодов; 21 July 1967 – 17 October 1994) was a Russian journalist who investigated corruption in the military and was assassinated on 17 October 1994 in Moscow.[1]

Early life and education

Kholodov was born in Zagorsk (now Sergiyev Posad) on 21 June 1967. He studied physics.

Career

Kholodov began his working life alongside his parents at the defence industry institute in

Moskovsky Komsomolets daily newspaper.[2]

In 1993, Kholodov travelled to hotspots around the former Soviet Union, reporting for

Georgian-Abkhaz conflict and, as he witnessed the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia
, sent many detailed reports, including one entitled "Sukhumi apocalypse".

In October 1993, Kholodov interviewed Defence Minister

defence minister himself, when he was murdered.[3] None of the allegations were ever tested in court. Grachev was replaced as Defence Minister in 1996 after the end of the First Chechen War
.

Assassination

Kholodov died on 17 October 1994 when he opened a

Russian military leadership (Defence Minister Grachev in particular) of ordering the killing. The military denied involvement. Speaking as a witness in court some six years later, Pavel Grachev claimed that "some of my subordinates misunderstood my words".[4]

Local and foreign correspondents had already died in Moscow and elsewhere in the country (see

chilling effect on investigative journalism
in the country's newly free media.

The case remains unique in one aspect. With one exception (Oleg Sedinko in 2002), explosives have never again been used to kill a journalist in Russia; and unlike the ongoing spate of

contract killings
no evidence was presented in court that money had been paid to Kholodov's alleged killers. They were acting, apparently, to avoid the displeasure of their superiors and to advance their careers.

Trial and acquittal

The trial of six defendants, four of them serving

Russian Supreme Court.[5]

Kholodov's elderly parents and their lawyers alleged improprieties in the conduct of the trial and the behaviour of the different judges presiding over the two trials (the second of whom, Yevgeny Zubov, would be in charge of the trial of

statute of limitation for murder laid down in Russia's 1960 Criminal Code. Speaking in Germany in 2008, however, President Dmitry Medvedev said that the killings of certain journalists were of such importance that there should be no time limit for the prosecution of those responsible.[7]
Kholodov's case was still unsolved as of 2009.

See also

  • List of unsolved murders

References

  1. ^ "Suspect in Kholodov's murder arrested". IFEX. 20 February 1998. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  2. ^ Yekaterina Deyeva, "Dima", Moskovsky komsomolets, 3 July 2002 Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine cited in CJES bulletin.
  3. ^ See Kholodov case study in PARTIAL JUSTICE: An inquiry into the deaths of journalists in Russia Archived 10 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, June 2009.
  4. ^ Closing speech of lead prosecutor Irina Alyoshina Archived 9 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian).
  5. ^ Closing speech, Irina Alyoshina Archived 9 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian).
  6. ^ 24 November 2008, Novaya gazeta Archived 7 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Reports on the first week of the Politkovskaya trial (in English).
  7. ^ See report (in Russian) by Nina Ognianova, Committee to Protect Journalists.

External links

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