Marcus Bensmann, a German freelance journalist and a correspondent for Deutshe Welle, Spiegel and Tageszeitung was found unconscious and severely beaten in Astana, Kazakhstan, according to Fergana.Ru news agency.
He had numerous body injuries, broken nose and jaw and worse of all - frost-bitten due to the extremely low temperatures (-15 to -20 degrees Celsius; -4 Fahrenheit). This might even lead to the amputation of his fingers and toes, speculated Fergana.ru. All Bensmann's belongings were stolen. Kazakh Ministry Interior has started an investigation into the case and the initial assumption is robbery. Bensmann will be soon flown to Germany.
Marcus Bensmann is known for having worked in a number of hotspots including Iraq and Chechnya. 38-years-old journalist is a Central Asia expert for a number of German news agencies. He has reported from Uzbekistan during the Andijan events in 2005 and opposed Shirin Akiner's and Uzbek government's position on them.
We don't know what the motives were behind the assault on Marcus Bensmann, but it will be quite an embarassment for Kazakh government which is soon to lead the OSCE.
Update: German news agencies have reported that Marcus Bensmann was doing a research for his film about the economic boom in Astana, when he was attacked. Kazinform has reported that Bensmann has visited two nightclubs on a Saturday night and last what he remembers is leaving a taxi around 2:30 am. Department chief of criminal police Shanat Bintenov was quoted saying Bensmann was "a victim of a banal robbery".
Update 2: January 30, Kazakhstan Today has reported that three persons related to Bennsman's case were arrested and have already admitted their involvement in the case. One of them worked as a taxi-driver, the other was unemployed, and the third worked for a security firm. Traffic video surveillance helped identify the criminals.
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