Roddy Scott (23 February 1971 – 26 September 2002) was an English freelance photojournalist who documented neglected conflicts in such places as

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. He derived the bulk of his income from updating ''

The World's Most Dangerous Places ''The World's Most Dangerous Places'' is handbook of survival tactics for high-risk regions first published in 1994, written by National Geographic Adventure columnist Robert Young Pelton and his contributors. The fifth edition was published in 20 ...

'' and traveled widely in his freelance journalism career, usually without sponsors or payment. He died in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

while working for

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

's Frontline Television News.

Career

Scott was a contributor to the annual guide, ''

.''

Death

On 26 September 2002 Scott was killed in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. Russian soldiers found his body in Ingushetia's

Galashki Galashki (russian: Галашки; inh, Галашкe, ''Galaške'') is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Sunzhensky District of the Republic of Ingushetia, Russia, located on the left bank of the Sunzha River near the border with the Republic ...

region, near the border with the war-torn republic of Chechnya, following a fierce battle between Russian forces and a group of Chechen rebel fighters in which at least 17 were killed and a Russian

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

was shot down. Scott had accompanied the Chechens from

Ruslan Gelayev Ruslan (Hamzat) Gelayev (russian: Руслан (Хамзат) Гелаев; was a prominent commander in the Chechen separatist movement against Russia, in which he played a significant, yet controversial, military and political role in the 199 ...

's unit as they crossed from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

into Russia and was apparently killed by a bullet in the viewfinder of his camera while filming the firefight,

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

reported. According to the

Kavkaz Center The Kavkaz Center (KC; russian: Кавказ-центр, Kavkaz-centr, lit=Caucasus Center) is a privately run website/ portal which aims to be "a Chechen internet agency which is independent, international and Islamic". The stated mission of the ...

, however, he was killed alone while trying to

surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

. At first,

the Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...

officials said Scott might still be alive. Scott was instrumental in updating

Robert Young Pelton Robert Young Pelton (born July 25, 1955) is a Canadian-American author, journalist, and documentary film director. Pelton's work usually consists of conflict reporting and interviews with military and political figures in war zones. Pelton has ...

' fourth edition and his primary source of income came from assisting Pelton in covering areas such as

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. Pelton investigated the circumstances of his friend's death and determined that Scott indeed tried to surrender but was shot in the face by a Russian sniper while waving an improvised

white flag White flags have had different meanings throughout history and depending on the locale. Contemporary use The white flag is an internationally recognized protective sign of truce or ceasefire, and for negotiation. It is also used to symbolize ...

borrowed from a local. According to Pelton, the Russian government later tried to extort Scott's family, branding him as a "

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

" and refusing to return the body or issue a death certificate unless money was paid. Pelton arranged with

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

's Moscow bureau Jill Dougherty to run a lengthy profile on Scott's career as a journalist to counter the Russian propaganda. Meanwhile, Scott's family solved the body extortion by simply demanding that in the British tradition, he should be buried where he fell. Scott's father, Robin, writing to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', said his son had chosen to travel with the Chechens in order to remedy the sparse media reporting of a conflict: "Whether it was

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...

Chechens The Chechens (; ce, Нохчий, , Old Chechen: Нахчой, ''Naxçoy''), historically also known as ''Kisti'' and ''Durdzuks'', are a Northeast Caucasian ethnic group of the Nakh peoples native to the North Caucasus in Eastern Europe. "Eu ...

, Afghans or Palestinians, he was committed to ensuring that issues were not sidelined and received the international attention that they deserved."

References

External links

Killed reporter's Chechen rebel pictures

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 1 October 2002
The Roddy Scott Foundation

Perhaps the last photograph taken of Roddy Scott
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Roddy 1971 births 2002 deaths English photojournalists Journalists killed while covering the Chechen wars War photographers