Dmitry Kholodov

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Dmitry Kholodov
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Dmitry Kholodov

Dmitry Kholodov (July 21, 1967, ZagorskOctober 17, 1994, Moscow) was a journalist of the Russian newspaper Moskovskii Komsomolets, killed as he was investigating alleged corruption among high ranks of the Russian military.

In his published articles, Kholodov claimed the then Defence Minister Pavel Grachev was involved in corruption cases during the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Germany in the beginning of the 1990s. Non of the charges were ever proven in court.

In 1993, Kholodov travelled to Abkhazia during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. He wrote many detailed reports from Sukhumi as he witnessed the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia.

[edit] Assassination

Kholodov died on October 17, 1994, when a booby-trapped briefcase he had collected from a source exploded in his newspaper's offices. Kholodov had been told the attache case he picked up at a Moscow train station contained secret documents exposing corruption at the military's highest levels.

At that time, the editors of Kholodov's daily, Moskovskii Komsomolets, accused the Russian military leadership of ordering the contract killing. Despite the military's denial of involvement, Kholodov's killing sent shockwaves throughout Russia's journalist community. Although journalists had previously died in the line of duty, the targeting of a specific journalist personalized the risk faced by reporters and had a chilling effect on investigative journalism in Russia.

Six defendants, four of them military officers, were tried in Russian courts but acquitted. Kholodov's parents alleged improprieties in the investigation.

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