Moscow says journos not tortured

MOSCOW: Russia yesterday said no sign of torture was found on the bodies of three Russian journalists killed while on duty in the Central African Republic this week.

“According to information given to the Russian embassy in CAR, preliminary examination carried out by local doctors found gunshot wounds, but no signs of torture,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Journalists Kirill Radchenko, Alexadner Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal were killed in the strife-torn African country on Monday.

They were reporting on the so-called Wagner Group, a company that sends Russian mercenaries to hotspots such as Syria and Ukraine. The group has been described as Moscow’s shadow army.

On Wednesday, CAR authorities said the Russians were shot dead at a roadblock by a nine-man group.

In a statement on national television, CAR government spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui said the nine “wore headscarves” and spoke neither French nor Sango, two of the most commonly used languages in the republic.

One of the slain journalists violently opposed the armed men, who wanted to steal their equipment, according to Mr Kazagui.

One of the three journalists died instantly and the two others died from their wounds, he said.

These details come from their driver, who was wounded but managed to survive the incident, he added.

A joint investigation into the incident has been opened by CAR authorities, Russian federal authorities and the UN peacekeeping mission in CAR, Minusca.

According to a Minusca source who agree to speak on conditions of anonimity, the killings took place north of the central town of Sibut, located on the main highway between Kaga Bandora and the capital Bangui.

Earlier in April, another journalist who was investigating Wagner’s activities in Syria was found dead after falling from the balcony of his fifth-floor flat in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

But Mr Kazagui said it was “very plausible” that the three journalists had been killed by “a roadblock team who belong to an armed group”.

“They took risks that, in my view, were badly underestimated.”