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Christophe Deloire, Who Fought for Threatened Journalists, Dies at 53

As the leader and spokesman for Reporters Without Borders, he rescued some, sought refuge for others and lobbied for pluralism in the press.

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A close-up photo of Mr. Deloire wearing a gray coat and scarf. He had short, sandy hair and a close-cropped beard and wore black-rimmed eyeglasses. In the background, blurred by the camera, is a large sign reading “Free Khaled.”
Christophe Deloire in Paris in 2020 during a demonstration on behalf of an Algerian journalist, Khaled Drareni, who was imprisoned at the time but later released. Credit...Lewis Joly/Associated Press

By Sam Roberts

Christophe Deloire, whose nonpartisan organization to protect journalists rescued dissidents from jail and championed a diversity of viewpoints in the profession around the world, died on Saturday in Paris. He was 53.

The cause was complications of brain cancer, according to Reporters Without Borders, the media group for which he served as secretary general for the last 12 years.

Mr. Deloire, who was himself a journalist and an author, lobbied publicly and labored behind the scenes to promote a free press in countries that muzzled journalists. He helped negotiate freedom for those who had been threatened with arrest, imprisoned or held hostage.

Image
Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Russian state journalist who fled her country with the help of Reporters Without Borders, at the group’s offices in Paris in 2023.Credit...Dmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times

In 2023, Reporters Without Borders, known by its French initials R.S.F., coordinated the clandestine escape of Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Russian state TV journalist who incensed the Kremlin by storming a live news program in 2022 to denounce the invasion of Ukraine.

Ms. Ovsyannikova was fined and forced to choose between prison and exile. Then, after another public protest, she was placed under house arrest pending a trial. On her lawyers’ advice, she fled Russia with her 11-year-old daughter, evading the authorities by switching cars several times before trudging through mud to cross the border and make her way to France.

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