"Free Word" links threats to “Novaya Gazeta” with Akhmednabiyev’s and Estemirova’s cases

Threats to journalists coming from Chechnya after publications about persecutions of members of the LGBT-community in the republic may harbinger of greater misfortune, said Nadezhda Azhgikhina, a member of the “Free Word” Association; and Alisa Ganieva, a member of the Association, has added that they would strengthen the support of the journalists, threatened for their honestly performed professional work.

The "Free Word" Association is a group of writers, journalists and bloggers, who act in defence of the freedom of speech," Nadezhda Azhgikhina, who is also a member of the European Federation of Journalists, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, one of the major aspects of the Association's activities is to draw attention to violations of journalists' rights. She noted that until now most of the crimes against journalists have not been investigated, for example, led the assassination of Akhmednabi Ahmednabiyev, a journalist of the "Caucasian Knot".

Many of the writers, who have joined the “Free Word”, left the Russian PEN Centre, which "failed to cope with its human rights mission," Alisa Ganieva, a Russian writer, who grew up in Dagestan, has noted.

According to Ganieva, the Association's first statement was "a voice in defence of the journalists, threatened by Chechen officials and clergy."

Let us add here that today a letter containing some unknown powder was received by the editorial board of the “Novaya Gazeta” from Grozny. However, the police found no dangerous substance in it.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.