Antonio Russo

{{Short description|Italian journalist (1960–2000)}} {{For|the football player|Antonio Russo (footballer)}} {{Infobox person | name = Antonio Russo | image = Antonio Russo.jpg | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1960|6|3|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Francavilla al Mare]], [[Italy]] | death_date = {{death date and age|2000|10|16|1960|6|3|df=y}} | death_place = [[Tbilisi]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] | othername = | occupation = Reporter, [[Radical Radio]] | mother = Beatrice Russo | website = }}

'''Antonio Russo''' (3 June 1960 – 16 October 2000) was an Italian journalist and Vice-President of the International Press Free lance (FLIP),<ref>{{cite news|last=Flip |title=Antonio Russo |url=http://www.flipnews.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4796:antonio-russo&Itemid=77 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615173744/http://www.flipnews.org/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=4796:antonio-russo&Itemid=77 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |newspaper=flipnews.org |date=August 1, 2011 }}</ref> who was murdered while covering the [[Second Chechen War]].

== Career == Born in 1961 in [[Chieti]], ([[Abruzzo]]), Russo was taken from an [[orphanage]] when he was about 6 years old. In the eighties, he left the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of [[Pisa]] in order to study at the Faculty of Philosophy at [[Sapienza University of Rome]] in 1986. The same year, he founded, with a group of students, the magazine ''[[Philosophema]]'', which he devoted much of his intellectual commitment.

After studying [[philosophy]], he started doing [[journalism]] in the nineties, his first service being a report from [[Siberia]] (with [[Radical Radio]]). He reported from Algeria during the years of bloody repression, [[Burundi]] and [[Rwanda]] during the [[Rwandan genocide|Hutu-Tutsi war]]. He documented the [[Second Congo War]], and then [[Ukraine]], [[Colombia]], [[Russia]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Eventi a cui ha partecipato Antonio Russo |url=http://www-6.radioradicale.it/soggetti/antonio-russo?page=67 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615194006/http://www-6.radioradicale.it/soggetti/antonio-russo?page=67 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-06-15 |newspaper=radioradicale.it |year=1996 }}</ref> [[Algeria]] and [[Sarajevo]] during the siege.<ref>{{cite news|last=Futuri.it|title=La tecnologia? Deve essere funzionale ad arricchire le esperienze, altrimenti rischia di appiattire la comunicazione|url=http://www.mediamente.rai.it/biblioteca/biblio.asp?id=746&tab=bio|newspaper=mediamente.rai.it|date=2001-01-19|access-date=2013-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518104054/http://www.mediamente.rai.it/biblioteca/biblio.asp?id=746&tab=bio|archive-date=2015-05-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Russo was also sent to [[Kosovo]], where he was the only [[Western world|Western]] journalist in the region during the [[NATO]] bombing. He documented the ethnic cleansing against [[Albanians Kosovars]].

On that occasion, he was also the protagonist of a daring escape from the Serbian forces, joining a convoy of refugees from Kosovo with a direct train to [[Republic of Macedonia|Macedonia]]. The convoy stopped along the way and Antonio Russo reached [[Skopje]] on foot.<ref>{{cite news|title=Kosovo: Antonio Russo di Radio Radicale e' a Skopje|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/kosovo-antonio-russo-di-radio-radicale-e-a-skopje|newspaper=radioradicale.it|date=April 1, 1999|access-date=April 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201232426/http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/kosovo-antonio-russo-di-radio-radicale-e-a-skopje|archive-date=February 1, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> There was no [[news]] of him for two days, and he was thought to have been lost.<ref>{{cite news|last=Russo|first=Antonio|title=Ho visto l'orrore di Pristina|url=http://www.repubblica.it/online/fatti/russo/russo/russo.html|newspaper=repubblica.it|date=April 2, 1999}}</ref> On his return, he received two major journalism awards.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Zola |first=Matteo |title=TSCHETSCHENIEN: Vor zehn Jahren wurde Antonio Russo getötet. Gegen das Vergessen |journal=East Journal |url=http://www.eastjournal.net/tschetschenien-vor-zehn-jahren-wurde-antonio-russo-getotet-gegen-das-vergessen/3142 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615173745/http://www.eastjournal.net/tschetschenien-vor-zehn-jahren-wurde-antonio-russo-getotet-gegen-das-vergessen/3142 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |accessdate=October 10, 2010 }}</ref>

Russians denied him entry to [[Chechnya]], so Russo went to Georgia to cover crimes against civilians there.<ref>[http://cpj.org/killed/2000/antonio-russo.php Antonio Russo]. The Committee to Protect Journalists</ref><ref>[http://www.thejournalistsmemorial.org/%22?lang=en&pays_deces=94&date_mini=2000&date_maxi=2000&id_article=596 Antonio Russo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317071848/http://www.thejournalistsmemorial.org/%22?lang=en&pays_deces=94&date_mini=2000&date_maxi=2000&id_article=596 |date=2012-03-17 }}. The Journalist Memorial.</ref> He sent movies and correspondences to Radical Radio.

Russo also intended to interview [[Vera Putina]], a woman who claimed [[Vladimir Putin]] was her lost son.<ref name="The Telegraph - Putina">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/3568891/Could-this-woman-be-Vladimir-Putins-real-mother.html Could this woman be Vladimir Putin's real mother?]. The Telegraph. 2008-12-05</ref><ref name="Anticompromat - Putina">[http://www.anticompromat.org/putinav/felsht.htm Vera Putina]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20100616112833/http://anticompromat.org///putinav/felsht.html archived]). Anticompromat.org</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Partito Radicale|first=Rinascimento|title=Antonio russo: aveva scoperto le vere origini di putin, prt|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/antonio-russo-aveva-scoperto-le-vere-origini-di-putin-prt|newspaper=radioradicale.it|date=October 30, 2000|access-date=April 29, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201232426/http://www.radioradicale.it/exagora/antonio-russo-aveva-scoperto-le-vere-origini-di-putin-prt|archive-date=February 1, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Russo was also investigating the Russian request for the [[United Nations]] to expel the [[Transnational Radical Party|Radical Party]], accused of meddling in the war in Chechnya. Russo planned to return to Rome by October 16 with the information he had gathered.

== Death == Antonio Russo died in the night between 15 and 16 October 2000 in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], where he was sent by Radical Radio to document the crimes in Chechnya. The [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy)|Farnesina]] announced that his body was found on the edge of a country road, near the village of [[Udzharma]], 25km from Tbilisi (the same road leads to the [[Vaziani Military Base]], where Russian forces were stationed at the time). The body was bruised and showed signs of torture, with techniques related to special military services. The autopsy revealed that Russo was killed by blows to the chest that caused fatal internal injuries. The [[Commissioner]] [[Nugzar Khambashidze]] was in charge of the investigation.

Russo's apartment had been searched and looted; his laptop computer, mobile telephone, video camera, and three videotapes were missing.<ref>[http://cpj.org/killed/2000/antonio-russo.php Antonio Russo] - The Committee to Protect Journalists</ref> Russo's friends believed that the [[Federal Security Service|FSB]] was responsible for his death due to his discovery of unconventional weapons being used against children. According to his mother, Beatrice, Russo told her in a phone call before his death that he came into possession of a videotape documenting [[Second Chechen War crimes and terrorism|war crimes]] in Chechnya.<ref name="Was reporter killed">{{cite web |last1=Gentleman |first1=Amelia |last2=Carroll |first2=Rory |author1-link=Amelia Gentleman |author2-link=Rory Carroll |title=Was reporter killed by Putin's secret service? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/12/russia.ameliagentleman |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=3 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221052611/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/nov/12/russia.ameliagentleman |archive-date=21 December 2022 |date=11 November 2000 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Recognition == Two films have been devoted to his work in Chechnya.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.premioantoniorusso.com/a_russo_bio.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130413190332/http://www.premioantoniorusso.com/a_russo_bio.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-04-13|newspaper=premioantoniorusso.com|title=Article}}</ref> In May 2009, [[Daniel Biacchessi]] wrote the story of Antonio Russo in his book ''Passione reporter''.

== Awards == 1999, 10 October ([[Mantua]]) - "Prize Andrea Barbato] Ethics of objectivity" III° Edition<ref>{{cite news|title=Antonio Russo riceve il Premio Andrea Barbato|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/172275|newspaper=radioradicale.it|date=October 10, 1999}}</ref>

1999, 28 May ([[Sarteano]]) - VII° Journalist Award [[Sarteano]] "Clean Pens".<ref>{{cite news|title=Antonio Russo riceve il VII° Premio Sarteano "Penne Pulite"|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/184356|newspaper=radioradicale.it|date=May 28, 1999}}</ref>

1999 - XX° [Ischia International Journalism Prize<ref>{{cite web|title=History|url=http://www.premioischia.it/Storia?lang=en|work=Ischia International Journalism Prize|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705143154/http://www.premioischia.it/Storia?lang=en|archivedate=5 July 2010}}</ref>

2001, April 11 - XXVI ° Journalism Prize Saint-Vincent organized by the friends of the house of game of [[Saint-Vincent, Aosta Valley|Saint-Vincent]] with the High Patronage of the [[President of Italy|President of the Republic]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Quirinale: Consegnato alla memoria di Antonio Russo il 36° premio giornalistico Saint Vincent|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/192523|newspaper=radioradicale.it|date=April 11, 2001}}</ref>

2006, September 11 - Prize Witness for Peace

2012, October 15 ([[Rome]]) - Prize Italy Human Rights "Global and Human Civilization"<ref>{{cite news|title=Premio Italia diritti umani 2012 "Civiltà Globale e Diritti Umani"|url=http://www.radioradicale.it/premio-italia-diritti-umani-2012-civilta-globale-e-diritti-umani|newspaper=radioradicale.it|date=October 17, 2011}}</ref>

==Film== 2003- was released in cinemas '''L'inquilino di via Nikoladze''' by the director [[Massimo Guglielmi]] (UNESCO Prize 2005).

2004- was released in cinemas '''Chechnya''', a film about the history of the war reporter, by Leonardo Giuliano with [[Gianmarco Tognazzi]] in the role of Antonio Russo distributed by Stazione Marittima Spa and supported by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture ([[Ministry of Culture (Italy)|Ministry of Culture]])

==See also== * [[Anna Politkovskaya]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://cpj.org/killed/2000/antonio-russo.php Antonio Russo] - The Committee to Protect Journalists * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120319202227/http://www.radioradicale.it/scheda/188696 Full video and transcription of last public speech of Antonio Russo]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Antonio}} [[Category:1960 births]] [[Category:2000 deaths]] [[Category:Assassinated Italian journalists]] [[Category:Second Chechen War]] [[Category:Journalists killed in Georgia (country)]] [[Category:20th-century Italian journalists]] [[Category:Italian male journalists]] [[Category:20th-century Italian male writers]]