Thugs have continually threatened Mikhail Beketov, the editor of a small but bravely outspoken opposition newspaper in the Moscow suburbs. They have bombed his car. The Communist apartchiks have launched a criminal libel case against him.
But Beketov wouldn't be silenced.
Until now.
Found unconscious outside his home after having undergone a brutal beating, Beketov lies in a hospital in extremely critical condition . He has a severe concussion, internal injuries and one of his legs have been amputated. But other needed operations cannot be performed because of the precariousness of his condition.
And even here in the hospital, further threats to his life are being called in.
This is, of course, all too common a tragedy in the cruel world of Russian politics -- a world of totalitarian rule (well, one shared by Communists and the nouveau riche criminal class) where honest reporting gets you killed. And the killers are never punished because they're never even apprehended.
