Scott, Frontline TV Company, Great Britain. Crossfire [J]. 2 October – Yelena Popova, Homicide. Conviction [nJ]. 19 October – Leonid Plotnikov Homicide. Conviction [nJ]. 26 October – Tamara Voinova (Stavropol) and Maxim Mikhailov (Kaliningrad), Moscow theater hostage crisis . Terrorist Act [nJ]. 21 December – Dmitry Shalayev, Kazan, Tatarstan. Homicide. Conviction [nJ]. 2003–2005 2003 7 January – Vladimir Sukhomlin, Internet journalist and editor, Serbia.ru, Moscow. Homicide. Off-duty police convicted of his murder. Those behind the contract killing were not convicted[J]. 11 January – Yury Tishkov, sports commentator, Moscow. Contract killing [nJ]. 21 February – Sergei Verbitsky, publisher BNV newspaper. Chita. Homicide [nJ]. 18 April – Dmitry Shvets, TV-21 Northwestern Broadcasting, Murmansk. Deputy director of the independent TV-21 station (Northwestern Broadcasting), he was shot dead outside the TV offices. Shvets' colleagues said the station had received multiple threats for its reporting on influential local politicians. Contract killing [nJ]. 3 July – Yury Shchekochikhin, Novaya gazeta, Moscow. Deputy editor of Novaya gazeta and a Duma deputy since 1993. He died just a few days before his scheduled trip to United States to discuss the results of his journalist investigation with FBI officials. He investigated the Three Whales Corruption Scandal that allegedly involved high-ranking FSB officials. Shchekochikhin died from an acute allergic reaction. There has been much speculation about cause of his death. The investigation into his death has been opened and closed four times. Homicide [J]. 4 July – Ali Astamirov, France Presse. Went missing in Nazran [?J]. 18 July – Alikhan Guliyev, freelance TV journalist, from Ingushetia. Moscow. Homicide [nJ]. 10 August – Martin Kraus, Dagestan. On way to Chechnya. Homicide [nJ]. 9 October – Alexei Sidorov, Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye, Tolyatti. Second editor-in-chief of this local newspaper to be murdered. Predecessor Valery Ivanov shot in April 2002. Homicide. Supposed killer acquitted [?J]. 24 October – Alexei Bakhtin, journalist and businessman, formerly Mariiskaya pravda. Mari El. Homicide [nJ]. 30 October – Yury Bugrov, editor of Provincial Telegraph. Balakovo, Saratov Oblast. Homicide. Conviction [nJ]. 25 December – Pyotr Babenko, editor of Liskinskaya gazeta. Liski, Voronezh Oblast. Homicide [nJ]. 2004 1 February – Yefim Sukhanov, ATK-Media, Archangelsk. Homicide. Conviction [nJ]. 23 March – Farit Urazbayev, cameraman, Vladivostok TV/Radio Company, Vladivostok. Incident not Confirmed [nJ]. 2 May – Shangysh Mongush, correspondent with Khemchiktin Syldyzy newspaper, Tuva. Homicide [?J]. 9 May – Adlan Khasanov, Reuters reporter, died in Grozny bomb attack that killed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov.