Hammerl was shot in the desert outside Brega, an oil town, when the group came under direct fire from pro-Gaddafi forces. He was left to die in the desert and the three journalists were beaten and captured.
After their release, Foley and Gillis would inform Sukhraj-Hammerl on 19 May 2011 how they witnessed Hammerl’s murder. “This was a war crime. Yes, some of the investigations into what Gaddafi started were suspended after he died later in 2011, but his death doesn’t exonerate the authorities in Libya from investigating these crimes that he and his forces committed,” Sukhraj-Hammerl says.
She remains hopeful that Hammerl’s remains will be found. “There have been so many other cases, where decades down the line, people have been able to recover the remains of their loved ones that were lost in those conflicts. Ours is 10 years on, a long and horrible time, that suggests to me that this is possible. It’s not a hopeless case.”
There should be no exemption or lack of consequences for those who kill journalists in conflict situations, Sukhraj-Hammerl says. “If this case helps to change that and to set a real precedent, then Anton’s legacy will be so much more real. His death would not be in vain.”https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/justice-for-anton-hammerlThese are unprecedented times, and the role of media to tell and record the story of South Africa as it develops is more important than ever.
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