Igor Domnikov

Personal

Igor Domnikov was married to Margarita, and the couple lived in Moscow in the same building as his colleague Oleg Sultanov. Many of Domnikov's colleagues believe the intended target of the attack was Sultanov, who was also an investigative reporter and had received threats on his life. They believe Domnikov was killed as a result of a mistaken identity.

Career

Igor Domnikov was a journalist for Novaya Gazeta and he edited a special project for the newspaper involving business corruption. Between May 1999 and February 2000, Domnikov published five articles in Novaya Gazeta criticizing the economic policies of former Lipetsk Region vice governor Sergey Dorovsky.

Death

Igor Domnikov was attacked outside of his Moscow apartment by several men wielding hammers. Domnikov was hit on the head with a hammer more than once, which knocked him unconscious. Due to the injuries sustained in the initial beating, Igor was sent to the Burdenko Institute, where he remained in a coma until his death two months later.

When Pavel Sopot was accused of masterminding the murder he stated: "I had no motive to mastermind the attack; I regret what happened, but I'm a small and modest entrepreneur who happened to be close to that story because of my naivety." Sopot was however in regular contact with Dorovsky in days leading up to the crime.

A push for justice led to the arrest and conviction in August 2007. Five members of a notorious criminal gang were convicted of murdering Domnikov. They were sentenced to prison terms varying from 18 years to life for the Domnikov slaying and numerous other crimes

Ten years after the attack, on March 11, 2015, Sergey Dorovsky, a former regional deputy governor in Russia was charged with the murder of Domnikov, which lead to speculation that politics were involved in the murder. Dorovsky was charged with "solicitation of deliberate infliction of grievous bodily harm to a victim due to his/her professional activity." This brought attention to the already popular paper in Russia but also brought unwanted attention and more attacks. Dorovsky was the second in command at Lipetsk Region in Russia. The case, however, was not successfully prosecuted as the statute of limitations had run out.

Context

The motive for Domnikov's murder was directly related to the work he was doing at Novaya Gazeta. Sergei Dorovsky was charged with the murder, and it was later discovered that it was a case of mistaken identity. The man they were attempting to kill was also a reporter for the Novaya Gazeta and was reporting on a subject evolving the former deputy governor of the Lipetsk region in Russia. The targeted reporter was Oleg Sultanov, and he was mainly working on exposing the corruption in the oil industry that had ties with the once deputy governor of the Lipetsk region. The murders of reporters working for the Novaya Gazeta are a large blow to Russia because they are the only critical newspaper in Russia according to Dmitry Muratov.

Impact

The impact of the murder of Igor Domnikov has been felt all across Russia and especially in the media culture. More people are being prosecuted in post Domnikov Russia for harassing and assaulting journalists.

Domnikov was just one in a line of murdered journalists from the Novaya Gazeta. After the murder of reporters such as Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Anna Politkovskaya, Yuri Shchekochikhin and Domnikov, Novaya Gazeta has talked about supplying their reporters and lawyers with guns to protect themselves.

Reactions

Koïchiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO, said, "Violent acts against journalists are attacks on freedom of expression and violations of the right - enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media."

Joel Simon, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "Justice has been served in a journalist murder for the first time since President Vladimir Putin took office in 2000."

The director of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations had a bone chilling response to the incident saying "I'm afraid Domnikov's might become another in a long line of unsolved journalist murder cases."

The Novaya Gazeta displays a photograph in honor of the late Igor Domnikov in the case displayed in the lobby of their main building in Moscow. Sokolov, a former colleague of Domnikov said "it was all a tragic mistake," in reference to the beating and murder of the journalist. Many of Domnikov's colleagues seem to believe the murder of a result of mistaken identity. "We think that Igor Domnikov was mistaken for Oleg Sultanov," stated the late former friend and coworker Yuri Shchekochikhin.

On the topic of Vladimir Putin ordering the murders of journalists Donald Trump stated "You're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, at least in our country. It has not been proven that he's killed reporters."

Awards

After his death, at the Laureate Freedom of Speech awards in 2010, he and four other journalists from the Novaya Gazeta -- Stanislav Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Anna Politkovskaya, Yuri Shchekochikhin --were credited with paying the greatest price in order to fight for the right to have free speech.