(Russia) Russian media director hospitalized after brutal attack

Vadim Rogozhin, managing director of the independent media holding company Vzglyad in the southern city of Saratov, was hospitalized in serious condition March 10, 2009, after surviving a brutal attack the week before.

Two unidentified assailants attacked Rogozhin, 38, as he was leaving an elevator at his apartment building around 6 p.m., repeatedly striking him in the head with heavy objects, Vzglyad said. The assailants left the journalist barely conscious by his door, but did not rob him. After crawling into his apartment and calling an ambulance, Rogozhin was hospitalized with a fractured skull and multiple head lacerations, the business daily Kommersant said. The journalist has been unconscious since undergoing several operations, the independent news Web site Newsru said.

Over the past several years, Rogozhin worked as a journalist for a number of local and national media outlets. Prior to his promotion in January to managing director of Vzglyad, Rogozhin edited and reported for Saratovsky Vzglyad on corruption in the regional government, police, judiciary, and security services.. After Rogozhin assumed his managerial position two months ago, he continued to influence Vzglyad's editorial content, his colleagues told CPJ. "It is obvious that this attack was related to his professional activity," said Vzglyad-Info Editor-in-Chief Nikolai Lykov.

As said in a March 10 CJP report, Saratov police opened an investigation into the attack and took Rogozhin's computer to check for possible leads. Local reports said that Rogozhin's journalism is among the motives that investigators were checking, but officials have made no statements on the case.

- Jessica Smith (Team Russia)