Adam Tepsurgayev

Who was Adam Tepsurgayev?

Adam Tepsurgayev was a 24-year-old Chechen freelance cameraman was shot and murdered in the village of Alkhan-Kala on 21 November 2000, in Chechnya, Russia.

During the First Chechen War, Tepsurgayev worked as a driver and fixer for foreign journalists. Later, he started shooting footage from the front lines of the conflict between Russian troops and Chechen separatist guerrillas. Reuters' Moscow bureau chief, Martin Nesirky, described him as an "irregular contributor." While most of Reuters' footage from Chechnya in 2000 was credited to Tepsurgayev, including shots of Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev having his foot amputated, he had not worked for Reuters in the six months before he died.

Chechen-speaking masked gunmen shot him in the thigh and groin; he subsequently bled to death. Adam's brother Ali Tepsurgayev said that Adam had been killed as punishment for his work as a journalist. He himself was wounded in the leg during the attack.

A Russian government spokesman blamed Chechen guerrillas for the murder, but local residents said the rebels had no reason to kill the cameraman. The Kremlin's Second Chechen War aide, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, commented that Tepsurgayev had not been accredited by the Russian authorities.