Europe & Central Asia

The building that houses Moldova’s oldest investigative newspaper, Ziarul de Gardă, founded in 2004, is in a small courtyard near one of the busy thoroughfares in central Chișinău, the capital. Alina Radu, the award-winning newspaper’s director, is busy checking the latest issue that just came out in print. Ziarul de Gardă’s current burning topic has…

Washington, D.C., December 17, 2025— The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against British public broadcaster, the BBC, and calls on the president to stop engaging the media in lawsuits that appear to challenge the fundamentals of the First Amendment. “The president’s lawsuits against the BBC and other news outlets undercut…

Berlin, December 16, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on North Macedonian authorities to hold accountable a man who violently intruded upon the newsroom of the Infomax news website in Skopje during a live broadcast, and take concrete steps to ensure the safety of journalists and newsrooms across the country. Police have arrested the man and prosecutors have begun a criminal proceeding against him.  “CPJ welcomes…

Paris, December 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Belarusian journalist Maryna Zolatava, who was among 123 prisoners freed on Saturday as part of a deal in which the United States announced it was lifting sanctions on Belarus’s potash exports. All were pardoned by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko.  “We are relieved that journalist Maryna Zolatava is finally free,…

New York, December 12, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Azerbaijan to drop all charges and release 12 journalists as the trial against Germany-based Meydan TV began Friday in the capital, Baku. “The sorry sight of 11 journalists and a respected journalism teacher on trial in the case against award-winning Meydan TV only underscores the vast…

New York, December 10, 2025一With more than three weeks still to go to the end of the year, the number of journalists and media workers killed worldwide in 2025 already equals 2024’s record figures, data gathered by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. Led by Israel’s attacks on journalists in Gaza, Iran, and Yemen, the…

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, its media has experienced an unprecedented crackdown. Hundreds of journalists have been forced into exile, where they continue to face transnational legal persecution, and their families have been harassed back home. Meanwhile, reporting from inside Russia has become increasingly difficult, with journalists and media outlets often silenced…

Berlin, December 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on Russian authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of journalist Nika Novak, who has gone missing from a prison in Bozoy, in the Siberian region of Irkutsk. Novak is serving a four-year prison sentence after being convicted in November 2024 on charges of “confidential cooperation with a foreign organization,”…

New York, December 2, 2025—Kazakh authorities should drop criminal “false information” charges against Gulnara Bazhkenova, editor-in-chief of the independent outlet Orda, and allow the outlet and its staff to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On December 1, armed police raided Orda’s editorial offices in the capital, Astana, and in the southern city of…

Istanbul, December 1, 2025—Turkish authorities should immediately release journalist Farih Altaylı pending his appeal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. An Istanbul court on November 26 found prominent commentator Altaylı, who was arrested pending trial in late June, guilty of the charge of threatening Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and sentenced him to four years and two months in prison….