he International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its European group the Federation of European Journalists (EFJ) today joined the Russian affiliate, the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ), in condemning serious violations of press freedom during the presidential poll held in Russia last week. Media reports say that police in Moscow attacked journalists who were covering the presidential poll and arrested some of them. “Evidence is emerging of numerous incidents across the country in which police deliberately attacked journalists who were duly accredited to cover the elections, some of whom have also been arrested, ” said Jim Boumelha, IFJ President. “ We condemn this thuggish behavior and we support the call from our members in Russia for an investigation into these acts.” In a statement, the Russian Union of Journalists said that police in Moscow arrested journalists who were covering protests held on Monday to denounce electoral irregularities during last Sunday presidential poll which was won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Union also accused police of attacking some journalists, including Pavel Nikulin, correspondent of the Moscow News, Andrey Stenin of RIA Novosti, Alexandre Borzenko of Echo of Moscow, Vladimir Romansky, correspondent of TV Dozhd TV and Ilya Barabanov of The New Times. According to RUJ, police detained journalists despite the fact that they had been shown accreditation documents. The union has also written to the Head of the Investigative Committee in the Office of the Russian General Prosecutor, demanding an investigation in the attacks on media, the statement says. The IFJ also learned that Igor Taro, the special envoy of the Estonian Public Broadcasting Service (Eesti Rahvusringhääling -ERR) to cover elections in Russia was arrested on 1 March in the Pskov region. He was accused of filming without permission even though he was duly accredited to cover the elections in the country. Police detained and interrogated him for several hours. The reporter later recovered his equipment but had to return to Estonia on 2 March. The Estonian Journalists’ Union, an EFJ/IFJ affiliate, condemned the action of Russian police as” a rude breach of journalistic freedoms “. The EFJ also backed the RUJ’s call for investigation, saying that the recent attacks signal an aggressive approach the authorities have taken to confront the opposition to President-elect Vladimir Putin. “We are concerned that the crackdown on journalists we have seen over the last days is a sign of worse things to come,” added EFJ President Arne König. “The authorities give every indication that they plan to suppress independent reporting on the political protests against the new leadership in Russia.” The IFJ represents more than 600.000 journalists in 134 countries

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