MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) – The death of Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin requires an investigation that would determine whether or not it was an indiscriminate attack, Senior Director for Research at Amnesty International Anna Neistat told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
“Amnesty International is extremely concerned about the safety of journalists just like any other civilians who operate in conflict areas. The death of Andrei Stenin may or may not be a crime and it does require an investigation,” Neistat said, adding that she “cannot guarantee” that Amnesty International will be investigating that particular case.
“We are conducting an investigation into indiscriminate attacks and to what extent some of them may amount to war crimes on both sides. We started this investigation several weeks ago,” Neistat said, noting that “it is the hardest part of any conflict to determine whether a particular attack was in fact deliberate, indiscriminate, disproportionate, and so forth.”
International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya photojournalist Andrei Stenin is the fourth Russian journalist who lost his life covering the ongoing events in southeastern Ukraine, where the Kiev forces launched a military operation against independence supporters in mid-April.
Stenin went missing in eastern Ukraine on August 5. Sources suggested that the Ukrainian military could have detained the journalist, but Kiev has never officially confirmed the information.
On September 3, Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev said that, according to information from the Russian Investigative Committee, Stenin died about a month ago near Donetsk when the car he was travelling in while on an editorial assignment was shot at and torched on a highway just outside the city.
A farewell ceremony for Stenin was held on September 5 at the Rossiya Segodnya international press center.
Stenin was buried at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
