Moscow:
A Russian reporter who claimed to have been badly beaten after writing about a controversial road project staged the attack and may be charged for filing a false police report, officials said on Wednesday.
But the reporter, Anatoly Adamchuk, vehemently denied this version of events and his newspaper said the accusations had been expected after he was harassed by police in hospital.
Meanwhile, another Moscow region journalist, Mikhail Beketov, who was left with brain damage and amputations after a brutal attack in 2008, was found guilty by a court of slandering a municipal official.
Attention on the security of reporters in Russia has increased drastically over the last days after the weekend beating of Kommersant business daily correspondent Oleg Kashin, who remains in a coma induced by doctors.
Adamchuk, who writes for the Zhukovskie Vesti in the town of Zhukovsky of southeastern Moscow, reported being beaten early Monday, following a series of stories about a forest that officials want torn down in favour of a road.
But in a bizarre twist, the local branch of the interior ministry said that "the attack was initiated and orchestrated by the accusing party."
The ministry's spokesman for the Moscow region, Yevgeny Gildeyev, told Moscow Echo radio that Adamchuk had paid 1,000 rubles (about USD 33) to instigate the attack.
The spokesman said Adamchuk paid one man to have another "fulfill the contract" and make it look like the reporter had been badly beaten about the head.
But Adamchuk furiously denied the claims. "This never happened. I refuse to comment on these despicable claims," Adamchuk told the Interfax news agency.
Adamchuk said he was harassed by two policemen yesterday night, who barged into his hospital room after 10:00 pm.
"They accused me of self-mutilation and that I had double-crossed everyone by my act of 'self-immolation'," Adamchuk told colleague Sergei Subbotin, according to the recording posted on Zhukovskiye Vesti website.
Adamchuk said the yesterday night visit was followed by people with video cameras who tried to film him and asked provocative questions.
"We awaited such a turn of events, because yesterday policemen already voiced this version," Subbotin told AFP of the police's allegations.
"We will be waiting for a response from the prosecutor's office. What happened is unprecedented, to make a victim into an attacker," said Subbotin.
But the reporter, Anatoly Adamchuk, vehemently denied this version of events and his newspaper said the accusations had been expected after he was harassed by police in hospital.
Meanwhile, another Moscow region journalist, Mikhail Beketov, who was left with brain damage and amputations after a brutal attack in 2008, was found guilty by a court of slandering a municipal official.
Attention on the security of reporters in Russia has increased drastically over the last days after the weekend beating of Kommersant business daily correspondent Oleg Kashin, who remains in a coma induced by doctors.
Adamchuk, who writes for the Zhukovskie Vesti in the town of Zhukovsky of southeastern Moscow, reported being beaten early Monday, following a series of stories about a forest that officials want torn down in favour of a road.
But in a bizarre twist, the local branch of the interior ministry said that "the attack was initiated and orchestrated by the accusing party."
The ministry's spokesman for the Moscow region, Yevgeny Gildeyev, told Moscow Echo radio that Adamchuk had paid 1,000 rubles (about USD 33) to instigate the attack.
The spokesman said Adamchuk paid one man to have another "fulfill the contract" and make it look like the reporter had been badly beaten about the head.
But Adamchuk furiously denied the claims. "This never happened. I refuse to comment on these despicable claims," Adamchuk told the Interfax news agency.
Adamchuk said he was harassed by two policemen yesterday night, who barged into his hospital room after 10:00 pm.
"They accused me of self-mutilation and that I had double-crossed everyone by my act of 'self-immolation'," Adamchuk told colleague Sergei Subbotin, according to the recording posted on Zhukovskiye Vesti website.
Adamchuk said the yesterday night visit was followed by people with video cameras who tried to film him and asked provocative questions.
"We awaited such a turn of events, because yesterday policemen already voiced this version," Subbotin told AFP of the police's allegations.
"We will be waiting for a response from the prosecutor's office. What happened is unprecedented, to make a victim into an attacker," said Subbotin.
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