Russia has been listed among the top ten countries most dangerous for the journalists and is the ninth in the list of the countries with the largest number of unsolved murders of journalists. The list was compiled by the International Committee to Protect Journalists.

UN news service reported that these are the countries where at least five murders of journalists were unsolved over the past ten years.

In the list of 13 countries the first three were Iraq, Sierra-Leone and Somalia, where journalists risk their lives each day during the coverage of war operations, the report says.

According to the figures released by the Committee, out of 500 murders of journalists, who were on their professional duty at the time, only 15% of the cases ended up with pronouncing sentences.

At the same time UNESCO reported referring to the International Federation of Journalists that 177 representatives of mass media died over the past year while on their professional duty. Unprecedented number of journalists have been attacked or killed in Iraq.

UNESCO's opinion is that today the attacks on journalists are no longer a rare instance. The report mentions a journalist may certainly become a victim of jealousy, die in a car accident or from a stray bullet. However, as a rule, the deaths of media representatives are not accidental.

Especially alarming cases are when the journalists get targeted because of the materials that they publish, - the report stresses.

Experts from the Committee to Protect Journalists also reminded that the governments are obligated to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of such crimes, because it is democracy that is the victim of each attack on a journalist, - the UN news service report says.

Kavkaz Center