MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian news agency says a journalist has died after being beaten by a police officer in the Siberian city of Tomsk.
RIA Novosti reports the 47-year-old journalist diedJan. 20in a Tomsk clinic.
It says the officer assaulted him in a police station where the journalist was detained in early January, and that the officer has been charged with manslaughter and abuse of office.
Sixteen journalists have been killed in Russia since 2000. Most of them had written reports critical of authorities.
The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists named Russia the world’ third deadliest country for the news media last year.
Several Russian police officers have recently been charged with murder, beatings and other abuses.
