Europe & Central Asia

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan's stagnant economy and Soviet-style dictatorship continued to fuel popular discontent in 2004, and President Islam Karimov brutally suppressed dissenters to -maintain his control of the country. Karimov stonewalled U.S. and Western pressure for reforms throughout the year, cultivating his image as an American ally in the "war on -terror" and calculating that the Bush administration was more focused on retaining access to a local military air base than on human rights abuses.

New York, March 11, 2005—The questioning of Ukraine's former president and negotiations to obtain a potentially key tape recording capped a week of developments in the Ukrainian government's investigation into the September 2000 abduction and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze. The once-dormant investigation, given life when President Viktor Yushchenko took office this year, also netted formal charges against two Interior Ministry officers this week, according to local and international press reports.

New York, March 10, 2005—The Military Collegium of Russia's Supreme Court today opened hearings to examine complaints filed by the Prosecutor General's Office and the parents of Dmitry Kholodov, a slain reporter for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, according to local press reports.

Kholodov was murdered in October 1994 after criticizing then Defense Minister Pavel Grachev. Two separate trials failed to lead to convictions for a group of suspects, and the statute of limitation in the case expired in October 2004.

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned about an ongoing campaign by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and prosecutors to intimidate and obstruct the work of independent journalists reporting on the ongoing war in and around the southern republic of Chechnya.

The FSB and prosecutors have launched a series of politicized criminal investigations against journalists covering human rights abuses in the North Caucasus. They appear to be part of a broader campaign by the Kremlin to suppress independent reporting on the war and create an image that life in Chechnya is returning to normal.

New York, March 4, 2005—Former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko was found dead this morning outside the capitol of Kyiv just hours before he was to be questioned by prosecutors about the September 2000 abduction and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze, according to local and international press reports.

MARCH 2, 2005
Posted: March 7, 2005

Elmar Huseynov, Monitor,
KILLED—CONFIRMED

Huseynov, the founder and editor of the opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, was gunned down in his apartment building in the capital, Baku.

New York, March 2, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Elmar Huseynov, the founder and editor of the opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, who was gunned down this evening in his apartment building in the capital, Baku.

Huseynov was shot several times while walking up the stairwell of his building on his way home from work, according to local press reports. The shooting occurred at approximately 9:00 p.m., and the editor died at the scene, the Baku-based independent news agency Turan reported.

MARCH 2005

Kyrgyz National Television & Radio
CENSORED

Senior government officials prevented journalists at the state-run Kyrgyz National Television & Radio Corporation (KTR) from reporting on rallies protesting fraud-marred parliamentary elections, according to local and international press reports.

New York, March 1, 2005—Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said today that Kyiv investigators had detained and were questioning suspects in the 2000 murder of investigative reporter Georgy Gongadze, whose decapitation had shocked Ukraine and whose unsolved case had tainted the highest reaches of government. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the president's announcement and urged investigators to continue pursuing all those who plotted and carried out the slaying.

New York, February 25, 2005—A state broadcast regulator last night shuttered the popular Kyrgyz Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, known locally as Radio Azattyk, just three days ahead of the country's parliamentary elections, according to local and international press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government to overturn the decision immediately and allow the station to resume broadcasting.