• CoralMarks [he/him]
    hexagon
    ·
    4 years ago

    btw, he found out:

    After being banned from re-entering the Soviet Union, Jones was kidnapped and murdered in 1935 while investigating in Japanese-occupied Mongolia; his murder was likely by the Russian secret police, the NKVD.

    • CarlTheRedditor [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      his murder was likely by the Russian secret police, the NKVD.

      What I wonder is the source of this? Seems like they'd have better things to do in 1935 than kill a journalist in Manchuria but I guess they obviously wanted to keep an eye on the Japanese so they'd have been in the area anyway.

      • CoralMarks [he/him]
        hexagon
        ·
        4 years ago

        This is the source cited in the wiki:

        The trip would prove his downfall, as he and his companion, a German journalist named Muller, were captured by bandits in remote countryside, after being turned away by Japanese forces.
        Mr Carey said Jones's death had always been surrounded by controversy, as it was unclear whether the bandits were tipped off by the Japanese, or by the Russian secret police, the NKVD.
        "Until now all that was known for certain was that Muller was released on a highly spurious pretext about having been freed on parole in order to raise the ransom, and two days later Gareth was shot for no conceivable reason," he said.
        "Probably we'll never know for certain what happened. However our investigations have shown that the Chinese contact who loaned Jones and Muller a car to travel to Mongolia was definitely an NKVD agent, and there's strong evidence to suggest that Muller might also have been."

        I'd say the wiki is framing it a bit too overconfidently.