RABAT, August 3. /TASS/. The bodies of three Russian journalists killed in the Central African Republic (CAR) will be dispatched from the country’s capital of Bangui on the night of August 3 and brought to Russia overnight into August 5, Russian Charge D'affaires in CAR Viktor Tokmakov told TASS on Friday.

"We will dispatch the bodies to Paris tonight and then a flight from Paris will bring them to Moscow overnight into August 5," he said.

"The embassy will remain in contact with the CAR authorities to get information about the investigation and pass it on to Russia’s investigative agencies," the diplomat said. "If our investigative authorities find it necessary to send their representatives to CAR, we will provide assistance to them," he added.

Tokomakov pointed out that "a criminal case over the Russian journalists’ murder was launched in CAR on August 1 and the prosecutor’s office has been instructed to investigate this crime." "An investigative group of the CAR gendarmerie has been to the murder site and already returned to Bangui. They will report the results of the investigation to their seniors and we were told that this information would to be shared with us as well," Russia’s charge d’affaires noted.

Russian journalists’ death

The Russian embassy in the Central African Republic said on Tuesday that three men had been found dead near the city of Sibut (300 kilometers north of Bangui) on July 30. The Russian Foreign Ministry said later that the three had been carrying press cards in the names of Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal.

The Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation into the murder. Editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy (or Echo of Moscow) radio station Alexei Venediktov earlier told TASS that journalist Orkhan Dzhemal, cameraman Kirill Radchenko and director Alexander Rastorguyev had been working on a documentary in the Central African Republic.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that all necessary assistance would be provided to the slain journalists’ families.