French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was killed Monday (May 30) while covering the war in Ukraine, according to his employer, French broadcaster BFM TV, and the Committee to Protect Journalists is calling for an investigation.
The death came the same day that the U.S. celebrates Memorial Day, meant to honor those lost in active service to their country during military conflicts.
Leclerc-Imhoff was covering the evacuation of Sievierodonetsk when one of the evacuation vehicles came under heavy fire, according to CPJ, which cited a statement from BFM TV.
Also: UN Denounces Killing of Journalists In Ukraine
“The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply saddened by the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff and calls on Russian and Ukrainian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of his death,” CPJ executive director Robert Mahoney said. “His killing is yet another example of the hideous toll taken on non-combatants by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Journalists are civilians who show particular courage by reporting from war zones and should never be targeted for their work."
BFM TV said that Leclerc-Imhoff’s colleague, Maxime Brandstaetter, was injured in the attack.
Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, condemned the killing and called for “an investigation so as to identify those responsible for this crime and bring them to trial.”
She repeated UNESCO’s call for the protection of journalists under a UN Security Council resolution. “Journalists who work tirelessly in Ukraine to inform us about the reality of the war must be protected from attack,” she said.
CPJ said at least seven journalists have been killed while covering Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which CPJ defined as where they are reasonably certain they were killed because they were doing their jobs as journalists. Another seven have been killed, but with the motive still unconfirmed, which means they may have been killed in the course of their jobs or for some other reason. Those who were clearly not killed for their journalism or who died in an accident or weather event are not included. ■
