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The magnitude of President Saparmurat Niyazov's
cult of personality might even astonish the Soviet tyrant Joseph
Stalin. A golden statue in Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat, honors
Niyazov, who is called "Turkmenbashi," or "the Father of All Turkmen,"
and his portrait graces the country's currency. In 2002, Niyazov's
birthday was declared a national holiday, and he renamed the months of
the year, dubbing January "Turkmenbashi" in his own honor.
Committee to Protect Journalists
Europe & Central Asia
2003
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 or All
| Ukraine
During 2002, President Leonid Kuchma's relationship
with the United States hit an all-time low over suspicions that he sold
a sophisticated radar system to Iraq. At home, his presidency was
threatened by court rulings that opened a criminal case against him
(and that were later overturned) for alleged involvement in the 2000
murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze. Increasingly isolated, Kuchma
lashed out at critics in the press.
Attacks on the Press
| Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, UAE, Yemen
In the autocratic city-states that comprise the
United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), local media face both the promise of new
technology and the burdens of long-standing state restrictions.
| Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, UK, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Yugoslavia
Press freedom is generally respected in the United
Kingdom, but CPJ was alarmed by a legal case in which Interbrew, a
Belgium-based brewing group, and the British Financial Services
Authority (FSA), a banking and investment watchdog agency, demanded
that several U.K. media outlets turn over documents that had been
leaked to them. The case threatened to erode the media's ability to
protect sources, and to deter whistle-blowers from talking with the
press.
Attacks on the Press
| Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Russia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe
The U.S. government took aggressive measures in
2002 to shield some of its activities from press scrutiny. These steps
not only reduced access for U.S. reporters but had a global ripple
effect, with autocratic leaders citing U.S. government actions to
justify repressive policies.
Increased international aid and the presence of
U.S. troops who use Uzbekistan as a base for the "war on terror"
inspired President Islam Karimov to pay lip service to press freedom.
With much fanfare, Karimov's government ended prior censorship of
newspapers--one of the few systems in the world that required papers to
submit copy to censors in advance of publication. Yet the change was
almost completely undermined when the government subsequently pressured
editors to censor articles themselves. Some papers even hired the
state's former censors to minimize the risk of publishing anything that
might be deemed offensive.
During 2002, the intense political and personal
rivalry between Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica, a conservative
nationalist, and Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic, a pragmatic
reformist, consumed politics in Serbia, the dominant republic in the
Yugoslav federation. The conflict, which stalled government reforms,
was further complicated
by negotiations between the two Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro on transforming the Yugoslav federation into a union of two sovereign states. The possibility that the Yugoslav presidency would no longer exist forced Kostunica to run for the Serbian presidency in the fall against a Djindjic ally, Miroslav Labus. Voter apathy was so high that neither candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the electorate, leaving the presidency empty at year's end.
by negotiations between the two Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro on transforming the Yugoslav federation into a union of two sovereign states. The possibility that the Yugoslav presidency would no longer exist forced Kostunica to run for the Serbian presidency in the fall against a Djindjic ally, Miroslav Labus. Voter apathy was so high that neither candidate garnered more than 50 percent of the electorate, leaving the presidency empty at year's end.
New York, March 28, 2003— The body of Iosif Costinas, a 62-year-old journalist for the independent daily Timisoara, was discovered last week by police in a forest in western Romania. Costinas disappeared in June 2002.
Police spokesman Cornel Iures said the journalist's remains were found near the village of Pischia, 16 miles northeast of the western Romanian city of Timisoara, where Costinas had lived and worked prior to his disappearance, The Associated Press reported.
Police spokesman Cornel Iures said the journalist's remains were found near the village of Pischia, 16 miles northeast of the western Romanian city of Timisoara, where Costinas had lived and worked prior to his disappearance, The Associated Press reported.
New York, March 28, 2003—The Medeu district court in the southern Kazakh city of Almaty convicted two men this week of setting fire to an opposition newspaper's offices last May.
The court sentenced Meirbek Uristenbekov and Mukhitdin Abdualiyev to three years in prison and ordered them to pay a total of 952,000 tenge (US$6,270) in damages to Muratbek Ketebayev, the newspaper's publisher, and 46,000 tenge (US$303) in legal fees to the court.
The court sentenced Meirbek Uristenbekov and Mukhitdin Abdualiyev to three years in prison and ordered them to pay a total of 952,000 tenge (US$6,270) in damages to Muratbek Ketebayev, the newspaper's publisher, and 46,000 tenge (US$303) in legal fees to the court.
New York, March 26, 2003—Sinisa Simic, the public prosecutor responsible for the stalled investigation into the April 1999 assassination of Dnevni Telegraf editor-in-chief Slavko Curuvija, has been temporarily suspended of his duties, according to local press reports.
Serbia's acting president Natasa Micic ordered the suspension on Friday, March 21, amid a government crackdown on judges and prosecutors with suspected links to members of the powerful Zemun mafia clan that allegedly orchestrated the March 12 assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
Serbia's acting president Natasa Micic ordered the suspension on Friday, March 21, amid a government crackdown on judges and prosecutors with suspected links to members of the powerful Zemun mafia clan that allegedly orchestrated the March 12 assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.
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