WASHINGTON -- On July 9, 2004, Paul Klebnikov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine was shot 10 times outside his office in Moscow, leaving behind a wife and three young children, a noble career and a plethora of unfinished projects and unanswered questions.
Tuesday, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a resolution, sponsored by Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11), which condemns this horrific crime, and encourages the Russian Federation to protect media freedoms and commends journalists living and working in Russia.
McCotter said the resolution, which was crafted with help from the Klebnikov family as well as journalists representing Project Klebnikov, is an important affirmation of America’s commitment to press freedom in principle and practice.
“It is often wondered why, in the United States, our constitution refers to freedom of speech rather than freedom of conscience. It is because the founders of this country and the framers of the Constitution understood that there can be no freedom of conscience where there is not freedom of speech to express it,” McCotter said. “What the founding fathers knew has been perverted by many who would enslave and subjugate their fellow human beings. Which is why we in the United States, who enjoy a freedom of speech and its concomitant freedom of conscience, must be ever alert to ensure the watchdogs of liberty, a free and unfettered press, are ever protected from intimidation or extermination at the hands of dictators.”
At least 12 reporters have been murdered in contract-style hits in Russia within the past six years - the latest on June 28 - according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which completed a conference in Moscow with the families of the victims. As Klebnikov, himself, wrote about how the big business of murder was undermining Russia: "The police solve only a fraction of these contract killings. There simply is no political will to enforce the law."
###