MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. Farewell ceremonies for Russian journalists Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzemal, who were killed in the Central African Republic (CAR), took place in Moscow on Tuesday.
The farewell ceremony for Kirill Radchenko was held behind closed doors, as was decided by his family. A source close to the family said Radchenko will be buried at Moscow’s Bulatnikovskoye Cemetery.
"We was an outstandingly honest person. He loved his job very much and cared about people. I have worked with him for two years," Alisher Igamov, an ANNA-News cameraman, told TASS.
Kirill Radchenko had worked with Anna-News Agency as cameraman since 2016, covering developments in Syria and Ukraine.
The farewell ceremony for Alexander Rastorguyev was held at Moscow’s Troekyrovskoye Cemetery, also behind closed doors. Earlier in the day, the burial service was held at the Church of Cosmas and Damian in central Moscow.
Alexander Rastorguyev, 47, a graduate from the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, worked as film director at the Don-TR television and radio company in Rostov-on-Don and at St. Petersburg’s desk of the NTV television company. In 2001, he founded Kino studio. He directed numerous documentaries, which were awarded prizes at Russian and international festivals.
The funeral ceremony for Orkhan Dzhemal took place at the Moscow Metropolitan Mosque. According to the Islamic tradition, after the body was washed it was placed in the mosque’s yard where the funeral prayer was pronounced. The body will be buried at the Muslim sector of Moscow’s Khovanskoye Cemetery.
Orkhan Dzhemal, 52, was a son of Russian public activist Geydar Dzhemal (1947-2016). He had worked with television since 1988 and contributed to a number of printed periodicals since 1995. In 2005, he founded the Investigative Committee agency of investigative reporting. Worked as war reporter in the North Caucasus, South Ossetia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. Was wounded in Libya in 2011. The author of the book "Chronicles of the Five-Day War" (2008).
The Russian embassy in the Central African Republic said on July 31 that three men had been found dead near the city of Sibut (300 kilometers north of the CAR’s capital city Bangui) on July 30. According to a UN spokesperson, the bodies were found near an abandoned car with numerous gunshots. The men had press cards featuring the names Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal.
The journalists entered the country with tourist visas to shoot a documentary. They arrived in Bangui on July 27 and set off for Deko and further north to Kaga-Bandoro on a jeep driven by a CAE national. They were seized and killed near Sibut on July 30, according to the local radio. The driver survived.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier citing the first results of the investigation that the journalists "were attacked by unidentified robbers and were killed when trying to offer resistance."
The bodies of the journalists were taken to Moscow on August 5. Russia’s Investigative Committee, which earlier opened a criminal case, conducted forensic examination of the bodies.
In a message to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the authorities of the Central African Republic pledged to spare no effort to find and punish those who killed the Russian journalists.