Media News - Friday, June 15, 2012

Russian investigator denies threatening reporter

Russia's top investigator denied Thursday that he threatened to kill an investigative reporter over a story that lambasted his agency, but apologized for an "emotional outburst" with the journalist. Novaya Gazeta, Russia's leading investigative publication, claimed Wednesday that Investigative Committee chief Gen. Col. Alexander Bastrykin took reporter Sergei Sokolov to a forest outside Moscow where he threatened to kill him and then joked that he would lead the investigation into his death. The alleged June 4 incident followed Sokolov's story that accused Bastrykin's agency of failing to punish the perpetrator of a 2010 killing of 12 people, including four children, by a gang in southern Russia. Bastrykin told the Izvestia daily Thursday he had invited the journalist to meet the team that investigated the 2010 killings - and then had a "very emotional conversation" with him. But the conversation did not take place in a forest, he insisted. Later Thursday, he met with Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov along with other journalists and apologized for the outburst, Russian news agencies reported. Muratov accepted the apology and said "reconciliation has taken place," according to state news agency RIA Novosti. Bastyrkin later telephoned Sokolov, who is out of the country, apologized and ensured his security if he returns, news reports said. (Business Week)

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