UNESCO adds Lekso Lashkarava to list of murdered journalists

Lekso Lashkarava, a cameraman of the Georgian "Pirveli" TV Company, has been included by the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) into the list of killed journalists.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 11, 2021, Lashkarava's relatives found him dead in his house. The journalist was severely beaten up on July 5, 2021, during protests against the gay pride parade in Tbilisi. The police launched an investigation into a criminal case under the article on suicide, but the "Pirveli" TV Company insisted on inviting an independent expert for making an alternative examination of the deceased cameraman's body. According to one of the versions put forward by investigators, Lashkarava died as a result of drug use.

According to the UNESCO, in 2021, in the world, a total of 55 journalists and media professionals were killed, including the Georgian cameraman Lekso Lashkarava, the "News-Georgia" Agency reported on January 7.

On the UNESCO website, Lashkarava is on the list of five journalists who perished in Georgia since 2001, namely, Alexander Klimchuk, Giorgi Chikhladze and the Dutch journalist, Stan Storimans, who perished in 2008 in South Ossetia, and Giorgi Sanaya, who was killed in 2001 in his apartment.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 7, 2022 at 06:28 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.