President Petro Poroshenko wrote in a Facebook post that he had ordered law enforcement authorities to carry out a prompt investigation.
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“He was a star and a luminary to us. Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Pavel and to all journalists in the region”, IFJ President Philippe Leruth said in a statement on the EFJ website. While both investigative journalists used the vehicle, the explosion took place at a time of day that Sheremet routinely travelled to Radio Vesti. “We call on the authorities to fully investigate”, Romen Nadal, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry said, as quoted by TASS.
The killing of 44-year-old Pavel Sheremet added a new degree of uncertainty and fear to a former Soviet republic that is struggling with a 26-month pro-Russian eastern insurgency and going through a prolonged stretch of economic woes.
The journalist left Russian Public Television after a short spell in 2014, complaining of “lies and fake news” in state media.
His killing has raised speculations that he was targeted because of his work.
He was previously sentenced to three years in prison by a Belarusian court in 1997 for illegally crossing its border while reporting on the permeable border between that country and Lithuania.
Convinced that the case had been personally orchestrated by Lukashenko, Sheremet moved to Russian Federation in 1999 to work on national ORT channel – now Channel One – on its leading news show Vremya (Time).
Journalist Pavel Sheremet talks on the air at a radio station in Kiev, Ukraine, October 11, 2015.
The motive for this killing is still unknown as the Ukrainian president purported that the Russia-backed separatists have been attacking the country on all fronts, and they might also be responsible.
“His death is a great loss for worldwide journalism”.
Belarus in Focus Information Office deeply regrets the tragic death of Pavel and hopes that those who committed this crime will be punished.
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An award-winning journalist has been killed by a auto bomb “which may have been meant for his partner”. “His killers can not be allowed to get away with this bad crime”.
