[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1874-S1875]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE PLIGHT OF ANDREI BABITSKY

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity to express my 
concern about Andrei Babitsky, the accomplished Russian journalist who 
still faces serious charges in Russia after being held captive first by 
Russian authorities, then by Chechens, and now again by Russian 
authorities.

[[Page S1875]]

  Mr. Babitsky has worked for the last 10 years for the U.S. 
government-funded broadcasting service, Radio Free Europe/Radio 
Liberty. He is well-known as one of the most courageous reporters who 
has covered the conflict in Chechnya. The skill and courage he 
demonstrated in his coverage of the conflict are clearly the major 
reasons for his continuing plight.
  Russian authorities repeatedly expressed displeasure with Mr. 
Babitsky's reporting of Russian troop casualties and Russian human 
rights violations against Chechen civilians in the weeks leading up to 
his arrest. On January 8, his Moscow apartment was ransacked by members 
of the Federal Security Service, the FSB, which is the successor 
organization to the KGB. They confiscated film alleged to contain 
photos of dead Russian soldiers in Chechnya.
  On January 16, Mr. Babitsky was seized by Russian police in the 
Chechen battle zone. After first denying that he was in their custody, 
Russian authorities claimed that Mr. Babitsky had been assisting the 
Chechen forces and was to stand trial in Moscow.
  On February 3, the Russian government announced that Mr. Babitsky had 
been handed over to Chechen units in exchange for Russian prisoners, a 
violation of the Geneva Convention to which Russia is a party. 
Subsequently, Russian authorities claimed to have no knowledge of Mr. 
Babitsky's whereabouts. As it turns out, he was taken to a so-called 
``filtration camp'' for suspected Chechen collaborators, then held at 
an undisclosed location by Chechen forces loyal to Moscow.
  On February 25, Mr. Babitsky was taken to the Republic of Dagestan 
and told he was about to be freed. But authorities said he was carrying 
false identity papers, and they arrested and jailed him. Mr. Babitsky 
says the papers were forced on him by his captors in Chechnya and used 
to smuggle him over the border.
  Facing international pressure to account for Mr. Babitsky's 
whereabouts since his disappearance, Russian authorities flew Mr. 
Babitsky to Moscow and released him on his own recognizance.
  The allegations of assisting Chechen forces and carrying forged 
identity papers still stand against Mr. Babitsky. If convicted, he 
faces at least two years in prison on the identity papers charges 
alone. The State Department would like to see this case resolved. Radio 
Free Europe/Radio Liberty is seeking to have all charges against Mr. 
Babitsky dropped, and I strongly support this effort.
  Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees 
the right to seek and to impart information through the media, 
regardless of frontiers. Taking into custody any reporter, and 
transferring him to the custody of hostile forces, is a serious human 
rights violation and behavior unbefitting a democracy.
  I urge the newly-elected Russian President, Vladimir Putin, to 
demonstrate his commitment to the principles of democracy and respect 
for human rights and freedom of the press by seeing to it that the 
trumped-up charges against Mr. Babitsky are dropped.

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