The Russian artist and cartoonist Semyon Skrepetsky was shot dead in the street in eastern Poland, near the border with Belarus, on 15 June. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins Cartooning for Peace in condemning this brutal killing and calls for a full investigation into what appears to be a political assassination.
Skrepetsky, whose real name was Robert Kuzovkov, was shot dead from a distance in the street, after which the killer stepped closer to him to fire another two shots, indicating a targeted attack.
Three days before Skrepetsky had engaged in a protest in Berlin, in which he carried a portrait depicting caricatures of Joseph Stalin cradling Vladimir Putin to denounce Putin’s war crime in Ukraine, and filmed a video of himself throwing a Russian flag in the trash. Just hours before his death, Skrepetsky also posted threatening comments he had received on a Telegram channel following the protest.
While the true motives and perpetrator have yet to be conclusively identified, Poland’s security services minister said that there was a possibility that Russian intelligence services were involved in this murder.
Originally from Altai Krai, Russia, Skrepetsky fled to Poland in 2021 in fear of political persecution. He was known for his paintings caricaturising autocrats like Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the Ukrainian authorities.
French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published an article paying tribute to Skrepetsky, noting that “other cartoonists have been warned,” it reads.
Cartooning for Peace, an international network of cartoonists, also condemned Skrepetsky’s murder and called for a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Semyon Skreptsky “whose tragic end reflects the price no one should have to pay for criticizing an autocrat.”
The EFJ echoes calls for a swift and full investigation into this brutal killing, which sends a chilling warning to all Russian journalists and cartoonists in exile.
Source: EFJ
