- Date
- 26/12/1995
- First
- Vadim
- Surname
- ALFERYEV
- Sex/Age
- M, 30
- Incident
- homicide
- Motive
- ?J
- Place
- stairwell entrance
- Job
- journalist
- Medium
- Federal District Plus
- SIBERIA
- Street, Town, Region
- Krasnoyarsk
- Freelance
- no
- Local/National
- local, Segodnyashnaya gazeta
- Other Ties
- Cause of Death
- murder, beaten & stabbed
- Legal Qualification
- no information
- Impunity
- investigation
Vadim Alferyev, correspondent for the privately-owned Segodnyashnaya gazeta (Krasnoyarsk), died in the city hospital on 26 December 1995.
At 6.30 that evening he was attacked in the stairwell entrance of his apartment block in Krasnoyarsk by unidentified assailants who struck him over the head with a crowbar and struck him repeatedly with a knife below the waist, mainly stabbing his legs. He was taken to the hospital emergency department and at 9.30 pm a complex neuro-chirurgical operation began. One hour later, however, he died.
A criminal case was opened by the city prosecutor. The chief editor of Alferyev’s newspaper considered the attack to be a contract killing. The ferocity of the attack inclined law enforcement experts to the view that the attackers were either teenagers or psychological unbalanced. However, Alferyev’s critical articles in local newspapers were thought the principal cause. Five years later the new head of the region’s internal affairs department said he considered the death of Alferyev to be a contract killing. The arrest of the local head of the tax police, and then of his recently transferred deputy, was taken to signify the former’s involvement in the murder. No charges ensued, however.
In 2001 Alferyev’s mother brought a claim against the newspaper for compensation for her son’s death. She linked his death to publications in Segodnyashnaya gazeta during the two years he was a staff reporter there, particularly about privatisation and leading Krasnoyarsk officials, I particular the chairman of the region’s legislative assembly.