INTERVIEW
In the past ten years worldwide, at least thirteen journalists have been murdered while investigating environmental scandals, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. This observation is at the origin of the Green Blood project, set up by Forbidden Stories, a collective of international journalists. First published in several newspapers around the world in June, this series of investigations has been adapted into several documentaries. Four episodes will be broadcast on Sunday at 8.50 p.m. on France 5. Philippe Vandel received two journalists from Forbidden Stories on Friday, who carried this initiative.
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Both work for the collective Forbidden Stories which Jules Giraudat describes as a "network of international investigative journalists" which brings together "different editorials such as Le Monde , Radio France, The Guardian or The New York Times . him, "to resume the work of journalists who were murdered in an attempt to cross-investigate their death and to continue their investigations".
As part of the Green Blood project, Forbidden Stories teams followed this approach, this time focusing on journalists "worried, imprisoned, censored and sometimes even murdered because they are trying to denounce environmental scandals", explains Alexis Marant. "We start from the field, from the base, and we go up the whole chain of responsibilities as much as possible."
Burnt alive
The sand mafia in India is the subject of the first episode broadcast on Sunday evening. It begins with a video, on which we see a naked and totally burned man. "They attacked me. They sprayed me with petrol why didn't they just arrest me? Why did they want to kill me?" He protests in a video broadcast in the documentary (see above). This man was called Jagendra Singh. This Indian journalist worked in Uttar Pradesh, the most populous region of India. He died in 2015 in suspicious circumstances.
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"He used to tackle corruption. He was on the trail of a minister of state for Uttar Pradesh who had committed several acts of corruption," said Alexis Marant. After denouncing his actions several times, Jagendra Singh looked into the compromise of this "minister in the local sand mafias", added the journalist. "This is where things probably got out of hand," he said.
Russian company singled out
A week later, Jagendra Singh died. An investigation is opened but it concludes that Jagendra Singh committed suicide. During their investigation, the journalists of Forbidden Stories met with a lawyer, who did not spare the minister. "Everyone involved in the trafficking worked for him and collected the money for him," he told reporters. "All the police and the administration were under his control. He no longer has as much political power but as a mafia, he is still as powerful."
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Another case, deciphered in the second episode of Green Blood. It takes place in Guatemala and concerns the country's largest nickel mine, "owned by a Russian group" and which "contaminates both air and water", according to Jules Giraudat. Local fishermen then "tried to alert the authorities," the journalist said. Police were dispatched, he said, and civilians "died after protests". Carlos Choc, the reporter who exposed the case, now lives in hiding, targeted by an arrest warrant.
By continuing his investigation, the journalists revealed the corruption of the authorities, which "protect the companies and are not at the service of the populations", according to Alexis Marant.