The first intimation that freedom of expression was in danger in Russia came about in dramatic circumstances late in 1994.
Dmitri Kholodov, a young reporter with Moskovsky Komsomolets, was killed by an attache-case bomb when investigating corruption in the Russian army.
Events in recent days have raised the sinister question: "Is glasnost dead?"
Five paratroop officers and a security guard have this week been charged with Kholodov's murder but as that case opens, another Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist is in hiding following attempts to commit him to a psychiatric institution.
A reporter from the US-funded Radio Liberty has gone missing under extremely suspicious circumstances in Chechnya.
The Radio Liberty correspondent, Andrei Babitsky (35), was a thorn in the side of Russia's propaganda campaign on the Chechen war. A Muscovite, his reports in Russian were heard on shortwave radio throughout the country. They differed radically from what the regime wanted the public to hear.
On January 18th Babitsky was apprehended in Chechnya by Russian forces and arrested under a law on the prevention of "vagabondism and beggary". What happened next astonished human rights activists in Russia and throughout the world. Babitsky was held incommunicado until February 3rd. On the following day Russian television showed a video of him being handed over to a group of masked men.
The official description of events is that Babitsky was handed over, at his own request, to a Chechen field commander called Abgireyev in return for two captured Russian sergeants.
There are a number of holes in that story. Chechen rebel leader Vakha Arsanov told Radio Liberty that there is no commander called Abgireyev on the Chechen side. Russsia's Lieut Gen Nikolai Staskov said that the two sergeants were freed in a snatch operation before Babitsky was handed over to the masked men.
The situation was complicated yesterday by an announcement from the Russian military that Babitsky was alive but that they did not know where he was.
In a letter to the Council of Europe, Ms Yelena Bonner, the widow of Andrei Sakharov, put the matter in simple terms:
"A civilian journalist fulfilling his professional duties. . . was, after three weeks of complete isolation, handed over in the absence of independent witnesses by representatives of the state into the hands of those whom this state considers to be terrorists and bandits."
Ms Bonner's description of events takes it for granted that Babitsky was indeed handed over to Chechen rebels. Another scenario is that the whole business was a crude publicity stunt by the authorities to discredit Babitsky.
The video of the handover, provided by the authorities, includes a conversation which suggests that Babitsky had fought on the Chechen side in the war.
In either case the Russian authorities have a number of very serious questions to answer and they have come under attack from many directions. A Washington Post editorial has accused the Russian government of acting "with a level of deceit and contempt for civilised norms that might have embarrassed even the Soviets".
In a letter to acting President Putin the Human Rights Watch organisation has charged that Russia has treated a non-combatant as a hostage, in contravention of Article 3 and Protocol 2 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Mr Putin has been silent on the issue.
In a separate case the Russian Interior Ministry has announced that it will start a manhunt for Moskovsky Komsomolets journalist Alexander Khinshtein if he does not hand himself up within three days.
Mr Khinstein has been a consistent critic of a number of political associates of ex-President Yeltsin and Mr Putin. He has eluded an attempt by the authorities to commit him to a psychiatric institution.
Mr Sergei Novosyolov of the Interior Ministry told reporters that Mr Khinshtein, if apprehended, will first be asked to undergo a psychiatric examination and if he refuses will be examined against his will.
While the charges against six men for the murder of Dmitri Kholodov may indicate that a move to safeguard freedom of expression is under way, there are a number of suspicious elements in this case also.
The men charged with the murder were, according to the prosecution, motivated by "career advancement" in that they hoped to impress their superiors by eliminating an awkward investigative journalist. Senior military and political officials have, therefore, by the nature of the charges, been exonerated.
I was present at Dmitri Kholodov's funeral on a bitterly cold Moscow afternoon. With a colleague from a US newspaper I was roughed up by police when entering the Palace of Youth on Komsomolsky Prospekt, where the funeral ceremony was conducted according to the rites of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the ceremony, I found myself immediately behind a group of senior officials from President Yeltsin's administration, including the then presidential press secretary, Mr Vyacheslav Kostikov.
Their conversation, which continued throughout the funeral service and in front of the coffin in which Kholodov's mutilated body lay, was of petty political jealousies and Kremlin intrigues. I remember making a mental note that glasnost might be endangered. The events of the past weeks may mark the hammering of the nails into its coffin.