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No signs of torture found on Russian journalists’ bodies in CAR — diplomat

During the initial examination local doctors found only gunshot wounds

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Local doctors have found no signs of torture on the bodies of the Russian journalists killed in the Central African Republic (CAR), only gunshot wounds, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Thursday.

"According to the data received from employees of the Russian Embassy in the CAR, during the initial examination local doctors found no signs of torture, only gunshot wounds," she said.

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The Palmares Centrafrique online edition earlier reported citing its own sources that the Russian journalists in the CAR had been kidnapped by rebels and interrogated before being murdered. The edition believes militants from the Muslim rebel coalition Seleka could be behind the crime.

The Russian Embassy in the Central African Republic said on Tuesday that three men were found dead near the city of Sibut (300 kilometers north of the CAR’s capital city Bangui) on July 30. The Russian Foreign Ministry later reported they had press cards featuring the names Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Okhran Dzhemal.

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation into the murder. Editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio station Alexei Venediktov earlier told TASS that journalist Okhran Dzhemal, cameraman Kirill Radchenko and director Alexander Rastorguyev had been working on a documentary in the CAR.

For her part, Zakharova assured that all necessary assistance would be provided to the relatives of the slain journalists.

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