The Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights has prepared amendments to the nation's Criminal Code to strengthen the law on punishment for hindering journalists from carrying out their professional responsibilities, the chairman of the council said.
Russia's daily Kommersant political correspondent Oleg Kashin was severely beaten by unidentified assailants near his house in Moscow early on Saturday. He suffered jaw and leg fractures as well as injuries to his fingers.
As usual, investigators consider attacks on journalists not as attempts on their life, but just physical abuse and hooliganism that carries a much lesser punishment.
For example, when Mikhail Beketov, editor of a controversial newspaper, Khimkinskaya Pravda, was severely beaten by unidentified attackers in 2008, a criminal case was opened under an article for committing bodily injuries. Beketov has remained physically handicapped from the attack.
The amendments prepared by the presidential council concern legal defense for journalists and rights activists, Mikhail Fedotov said.
RIA Novosti
