Probe into journalist Listyev’s murder will continue – Russian investigators

Vladimir Listyev file photo

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) – The Russian Investigative Committee has pledged to continue the inquiry into the 1995 killing of popular journalist and TV anchor Vladislav Listyev.

“It is still early to draw the line in this case. It will not be closed. The inquiry has been put on hold and the services responsible for it have been instructed to resume it as soon as any important information emerges. The work continues,” committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax.

Listyev was the author and the host of several popular programs on Russian television. Listyev was appointed as general director of the ORT television station in 1995. He was killed on March 1, 1995. The crime remains unsolved.

Investigators looked into different theories behind Listyev’s murder and analyzed his lifestyle, inner circle and the circumstances that preceded the killing. They learnt about the threats received by Listyev and his remarks in relation to other people, as well as received information about the journalist’s entrepreneurial activity, projects and his involvement in the establishment of a number of commercial organizations.

The possibility of Listyev’s murder being a work-related crime was investigated as well.

Eleven years after the crime, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office decided to suspend the investigation on April 3, 2006, because no concrete persons involved in the murder had been identified.

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