Introduction
1997 has been a year when the focus switched back to Latin America as the number of journalists killed in the region trebled. It has also been the year when, with decreasing numbers of journalists killed in war zones, statistics confirmed a hard-core and expanding level of journalists targeted and killed for their investigative work.
The IFJ lists all journalists killed while working or because of their work. We make no distinction between a correspondent caught in the crossfire while covering a war and the violent death of other journalists killed while on assignment.
The IFJ works with other groups, notably the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), who also compile annual lists. However, our numbers differ because those groups only count the accidental deaths of journalists when they are covering an armed conflict. We include all forms of journalistic activity.
Many journalists are the victims of tragic accidents, some are the targets of violence and others are brutally assassinated. It is not possible to make simple distinctions in drawing up this list. In some cases, especially Latin America and the countries of the former Soviet Union, it is difficult even to find the specific motive for the killing. In some areas, the appalling failure of official investigation leads us to include all cases of violent death unless information is provided to the contrary.
There is no doubt that more must be done to protect journalists, which is why the IFJ has launched a draft international code of practice for media professionals to ensure that life insurance, medical assistance, risk-awareness training, and social protection are provided for journalists.
Country by Country Analysis 1997
JK = Journalists Killed
MWK = Mediaworkers Killed
UI/M = Under Investigation or Missing
| Country | Journalists Killed (JK) | Mediaworkers Killed (MWK) | Under Investigation (UI/M) |
| Algeria | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Argentina | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Bosnia-Herzegovina | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Brazil | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Cambodia | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Colombia | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| El Salvador | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Guatemala | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| India | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Indonesia | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Iran | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mexico | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Namibia | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Pakistan | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Peru | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Philippines | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Russia | 8 | 0 | 5 |
| Rwanda | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sierra Leone | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ukraine | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 40 | 7 | 15 |
(Figures compiled up to 22 December 1997)
PART I: CASES OF JOURNALISTS KILLED (JK)
ARGENTINA
CASE 1: Jose Luis Cabezas
News Organ: Noticias | Sector: Press | Date: 25/01/97 (Age: 35)
Description: The body of Cabezas, a photographer with the weekly investigative magazine, was discovered by a fisherman near Pinamar. He was found inside a burned-out car with a gunshot wound to the head and his hands handcuffed behind his back. He had been covering high-profile corruption cases, including crime syndicates within the Buenos Aires police force.
BRAZIL
CASE 2: Natan Pereira Gatinho
News Organ: TV Mundial / Radio Cidade FM | Sector: Television | Date: 11/01/97
Description: Gatinho was ambushed and shot dead near his home in Paragominas, southern Para. The execution resembled a contract killing, with the gunman shooting him twice, followed by a final shot to the head. Gatinho frequently covered illegal land distribution by prominent landowners and exploitative logging operations.
CASE 3: Edgard Lopes de Faria
News Organ: Radio Capital / TV Record | Sector: Radio/TV | Date: 29/10/97
Description: Lopes de Faria, presenter of the critical programme "In the Mouth of the People," was assassinated on his way to work in Campo Grande. Hit 7 times with a 7.65 pistol and 6 times with a 12-caliber carbine, the execution was conducted by professionals using rare German ammunition. He frequently denounced police corruption and local death squads.
CAMBODIA
CASE 4: Duong Daravuth
News Organ: Neak Prayuth | Sector: Press | Date: 30/03/97
Description: Daravuth was killed during a grenade attack targeting an opposition Khmer National Party (KNP) rally outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh. The blast killed 11 people and injured 122 others, including over 16 journalists. He had just received permission to launch a new publication.
CASE 5: Pich Em
News Organ: Kompong Som Television | Sector: Television | Date: 07/05/97
Description: Pich Em died in a local hospital from shrapnel wounds sustained during a targeted grenade raid on May 4. He was reading the live Sunday night broadcast when seven masked men stormed the station. The attack followed the station manager’s refusal to air a tape critical of co-premier political factions.
CASE 6: Michael Senior
Nationality: Canadian | Sector: Television | Date: 07/07/97 (Age: 24)
Description: Senior, a newscaster for an English-language Cambodian television broadcast, was shot dead by soldiers in Phnom Penh while taking photographs of military actions a day after a state coup.
COLOMBIA
CASE 7: Freddy Elles
News Organ: El Espectador / El Heraldo / El Universal | Sector: Press | Date: 18/03/97 (Age: 38)
Description: Elles was found dead in his car. His handcuffed body bore signs of severe torture, multiple stab wounds to the neck, and fatal gunshots to the head and heart. It is widely believed he was targeted for his prominent photojournalism documenting incidents of severe police brutality.
CASE 8: Francisco Castro Menco
News Organ: Fundacion Cultural Radio Station | Sector: Radio | Date: 08/11/97
Description: Castro Menco, president and presenter of the radio station, was shot dead by unidentified assailants inside his home in Majagual. Relatives link the murder to his regular on-air programmes advocating for peace in the conflict-ridden Sucre province.
CASE 9: Jairo Elias Marquez
News Organ: El Marquez | Sector: Press | Date: 20/11/97 (Age: 40)
Description: Elias Marquez, director of the magazine, was gunned down by two professional assassins as he was entering his car on a downtown street in Armenia. He had received numerous death threats following aggressive editorial coverage of systemic corruption.
EL SALVADOR
CASE 10: Maria Lorena Saravia
News Organ: Radio Corporacion Salvadorena | Sector: Radio | Date: 24/08/97
Description: Saravia, a news reader, vanished after reading the evening news broadcast. Her body was discovered the following afternoon near her home with a single gunshot wound to the back of her head. No personal valuables were stolen from the scene.
GUATEMALA
CASE 11: Jorge Luis Marroquin
News Organ: Sol de Chorti | Sector: Press | Date: 05/06/97
Description: Marroquin, director of the publication and associate secretary-general of the PAN political party, was shot dead by two men while walking with his wife and son in Jocotan.
CASE 12: Norman Homero Hernandez Perez
News Organ: Radio Campesina | Sector: Radio | Date: 16/07/97
Description: Hernandez Perez, a news reader, was ambushed and killed instantly by heavily armed men alongside a station messenger as they exited the studio following an early morning news shift in Tiquisate.
CASE 13: Luis Ronaldo de Leon Godoy
News Organ: Prensa Libre | Sector: Press | Date: 14/11/97
Description: De Leon Godoy, head of weekend supplements, was cornered by assassins who ambushed him near his home. He died from severe stab wounds after three hours of emergency surgery. Robbery was ruled out as personal belongings and cash were untouched.
INDIA
CASE 14: Altaf Ahmed Faktoo
News Organ: Doordarshan Kendra | Sector: Television | Date: 01/01/97
Description: Faktoo, a news reader for the state-owned television network in Srinagar, Kashmir, was shot twice with a silenced pistol by three unidentified men inside a hotel. He had received ongoing threats from militant groups for working with state media, and was the only broadcaster living without a military escort.
CASE 15: Syedan Shafi
News Organ: Doordarshan | Sector: Television | Date: 16/03/97 (Age: 42)
Description: Shafi was intercepted by two unidentified gunmen in Srinagar. The attackers shot his security guard before firing a fatal round into Shafi's neck. He worked heavily on the weekly news programmes Kashmir File and Ankhoun Dekhi.
INDONESIA
CASE 16: Mohammad Sayuti
News Organ: Pos Makasar | Sector: Press | Date: 12/06/97 (Age: 42)
Description: Sayuti was found unconscious and bleeding heavily in Luwu, later passing away in a provincial hospital. Although police claimed it was a routine traffic accident, severe bruising indicated he was beaten. His death was linked to articles detailing the embezzlement of poverty alleviation funds.
CASE 17: Naimullah
News Organ: Sinar Pagi | Sector: Press | Date: 25/07/97 (Age: 42)
Description: The body of investigative journalist Naimullah was recovered from the back seat of his car parked in Pantai Penibungan. He had been conducting an intensive investigation into large-scale timber theft and illegal logging rackets across Kalimantan.
IRAN
CASE 18: Ebrahim Zalzadeh
News Organ: Me'yar | Sector: Press | Date: 13/05/97
Description: Zalzadeh, editor of the journal Me'yar, vanished in February. His body was officially recovered from a morgue a month later, bearing multiple stab wounds across his torso.
MEXICO
CASE 19: Jesus Bueno Leon
News Organ: Siete Dias | Sector: Press | Date: 26/05/97
Description: Leon's body was discovered with a gunshot wound to the head inside the wreckage of his burned-out vehicle near Chilpancingo. Before his death, he authored a formal letter explicitly naming state officials who desired him dead due to his extensive coverage of local government corruption.
CASE 20: Leonicio Pintor Garcia
News Organ: El Sol de Chilpancingo | Sector: Press | Date: 05/06/97
Description: Garcia's body was found abandoned in the Ajotolotero river. Medical reports confirmed extensive signs of torture across his chest, knees, and nose, indicating he was dragged and thrown into the river.
CASE 21: Benjamin Flores Gonzalez
News Organ: La Prensa | Sector: Press | Date: 15/07/97
Description: Flores Gonzalez, owner and editor of the daily newspaper, was executed outside his office by a gunman who emptied an automatic magazine at him, before using a .22-caliber pistol to fire three final rounds into his head. The killing was linked to his reporting on federal police connections to the cartel drug trade.
CASE 22: Victor Hernandez Martinez
News Organ: Como Magazine | Sector: Press | Date: 26/07/97
Description: Hernandez Martinez was severely beaten by unidentified individuals near the Attorney General's office in Mexico City, dying the next day from trauma wounds. He had frequently tracked police collusion and illicit narcotics rings.
PAKISTAN
CASE 23: Z.A. Shahid
News Organ: Khabrain | Sector: Photography | Date: 18/01/97
Description: Shahid, a press photographer, was killed by a devastating bomb explosion concealed in a motorcycle at the overcrowded Sessions Court in Lahore while performing assignment duties. The attack targeted leaders of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) being transported from prison.
CASE 24: Shamsuddin Haider
News Organ: Radio Pakistan | Sector: Radio | Date: 11/06/97
Description: Haider, a programme producer, was shot dead inside his home in Bahawalpur by two gunmen. He had received several threatening calls concerning religious and cultural segments broadcasted the previous month.
CASE 25: Manzar Imkani
News Organ: Jang | Sector: Press | Date: 19/06/97 (Age: 49)
Description: Imkani, a senior sub-editor for the prominent Urdu-language daily, was hosting a political leader from a breakaway MQM faction at his home when gunmen launched an assault on the premises, killing Imkani instantly.
PERU
CASE 26: Tito Pilco Mori
News Organ: Radio Frecuencia Popular / Opinion Libre | Sector: Radio | Date: 30/08/97
Description: Pilco Mori vanished after leaving his office to collect daily papers. His body was found the next day with fatal head and chest trauma. Witnesses reported he was intercepted by four individuals in an unlicensed vehicle.
CASE 27: Eduardo Parado Samaniego
News Organ: Radio Marginal | Sector: Radio | Date: 15/10/97 (Age: 28)
Description: Samaniego, host of El Mundo en 60 Minutos, accompanied a local security patrol in search of insurgent groups near Sonomoro de Palomar when he was shot and killed by militants.
PHILIPPINES
CASE 28: Danny Hernandez
News Organ: People's Journal Tonight | Sector: Press | Date: 03/06/97 (Age: 52)
Description: Hernandez, a news editor and critical columnist, was found shot dead inside a stolen taxi in a Manila suburb. He specialized in exposing local gambling lords, syndicated robbery syndicates, and deep-seated police corruption.
RUSSIA
CASE 29: Nikolai Lapin — Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Obosreni (Tolyatti City).
CASE 30: Alexei Eldasheu — Journalist (Khabarovsk City).
CASE 31: Yuri Baldin — Editor for Focus TV.
CASE 32: Vyackeslau Zvonaiw — Editor for Tact TV (Kursk City).
CASE 33: Vadim Biryukov — Deputy Director-General of Delovye Lyudi magazine (Moscow, Age: 64).
CASE 34: Antonina Lukina — Editor for Don TV Channel.
CASE 35: Vladimir Alieu — Correspondent for Kabardino Balkan Radio (Prokhladny).
CASE 36: Valery Krivosheyev
News Organ: Komsomolskaya Pravda | Sector: Press | Date: 06/09/97
Description: Krivosheyev was found dead from fatal skull trauma near a theatre in Lipetsk. He had informed colleagues the prior evening that he was meeting a source for a major exposé. He had previously uncovered the illegal construction of luxury villas inside a nature reserve by state political figures.
RWANDA
CASE 37: Appolos Hakizimana
News Organ: Intego / Umuravumba | Sector: Press | Date: 06/05/97
Description: Hakizimana was shot dead by two gunmen in a Kigali suburb. He had recently launched a newspaper, Umuravumba, which was confiscated by state authorities after publishing detailed reports on civilian massacres perpetrated by the military.
SIERRA LEONE
CASE 38: Ishmael Jalloh
News Organ: Punch / Storm / Vision | Sector: Press | Date: 11/06/97
Description: Jalloh, a freelance reporter, was struck and killed by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in Allentown while documenting active street fighting between insurgent battalions and ECOMOG soldiers.
UKRAINE
CASE 39: Pyotr Shevchenko
News Organ: Kievskiye Vedomosti | Sector: Press | Date: 13/03/97
Description: Shevchenko's body was found hanging inside an abandoned building in Kyiv. He had recently co-authored a series of investigative pieces exposing bitter jurisdictional disputes between local mayors and the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU). Colleagues strongly suspect foul play over state claims of suicide.
CASE 40: Boris Derevyanko
News Organ: Vechernyaya Odessa | Sector: Press | Date: 11/08/97
Description: Derevyanko, editor-in-chief of the regional paper, was shot in the heart and stomach at point-blank range on his way to work. Regional prosecutors classified the killing as a professional contract execution linked to the paper's adversarial stance against city hall.
PART II: CASES OF MEDIAWORKERS KILLED (MWK)
ALGERIA
CASE 1: Zoubida Barkat — A television technician with Télévision Nationale Algérienne; assassinated near the Bouchaoui forest. Her body was found along with two friends.
CASE 2: Louisa Ait-Adda — A camerawoman for Algerian State TV; executed by an armed faction directly outside her home after warning colleagues that she was being targeted.
INDIA
CASE 3 - 7: Rajasekhar, Srinivas, S. Krishna, Gangadhar Raju, & Jagadish Babu — All five media professionals, members of an Eenadu TV production crew, were killed in a landmine bomb explosion while travelling to cover a film set. The intended target was likely a former Labour Minister who was trailing in a vehicle behind them.
PART III: CASES UNDER INVESTIGATION (UI/M)
CASE 1 [Bosnia] — Milorad Ostojic: An AIM network correspondent who suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage following systemic threats, harassment, and intimidation from municipal authorities over critical coverage.
CASE 2 [Colombia] — Santiago Rodriguez Villar: A regional state press director who was dragged out of his home and shot three times in the head by two men on a motorbike.
CASE 3 [Colombia] — Gerardo Bedoya Borrero: An El Pais writer who was shot five times at close range. He was an outspoken proponent of a proposed drug cartel extradition treaty with the United States.
CASE 4 [Colombia] — Alejandro Jaramillo: Deputy editor of Diario del Sur; went missing on October 24. His dismembered body was discovered a week later in Pasto.
CASE 5 [Guatemala] — José Pedro Pérez Rosales: A journalist with the Parliament Union of Journalists; disappeared on March 14, and his body was recovered the next morning.
CASE 6 [Kazakhstan] — Christopher Gehring: An American national and Central Asia operations director for Internews. He was discovered tied up in his Almaty apartment with his throat slit. Police treated the case as a burglary.
CASE 7 [Mexico] — Rafael Perez Ayala: An Excelsior reporter who vanished after a meeting in Mexico City. His body was found inside his car trunk five days later, with the autopsy citing asphyxiation.
CASE 8 [Namibia] — Peterkings Nkhoma: A reporter with the Namibia Press Agency who was fatally struck by a police vehicle along the Katima Mulilo highway. Local journalistic investigations suggested he was deliberately left on the road to die.
CASE 9 [Peru] — Miguel Bravo Quispe: A correspondent for El Comercio and local mayor; discovered dead from a single bullet wound to the heart near Lake Uanamate.
CASE 10 [Peru] — Felipe Palomino Caychihua: An Expreso journalist who was beaten to death on a rural transit bus. The transit operator claimed he jumped out of a window over a fare dispute, which his family strongly rejected.
CASES 11 - 15 [Russia] — Valentin Karkautreu (Tver), Inessa Dotenko (2x2 TV), Manuk Zhazhoyan (St. Petersburg), Lidia Lazarenko (Dzerzhinsk), & Sergei Chekalin (Rostov): All five regional reporters died under violent or unexplained circumstances, with official tracking ongoing.
PART IV: DOCUMENTATION SOURCES
AJI: Alliance of Independent Journalists (Indonesia)
ANP: Associación Nacional de Periodista del Peru
CPJ: Committee to Protect Journalists (USA)
FATPREN: Federación Argentina de Trabajadores de Prensa
JUR: Journalists Union of Russia
MISA: Media Institute of Southern Africa
PPF: Pakistan Press Foundation
RSF: Reporters Sans Frontières (France)
Wire Services: Associated Press (AP), Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), Reuters.
