Europe & Central Asia
2009
Azerbaijan trumps up new charge against Fatullayev
New York, December 30, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a new criminal charge filed against imprisoned Azerbaijani editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award. Based on Fatullayev’s account and the government’s long record of persecuting the editor, CPJ believes the charge to be fabricated.
Kazakh police: Kyrgyz citizens suspected in editor’s killing
New York, December 29, 2009—Police in Kazakhstan said Monday that they have identified several suspects in this month’s murder of prominent Kyrgyz editor Gennady Pavlyuk. Police did not identify the suspects or describe their alleged roles, other than to say the suspects are citizens of neighboring Kyrgyzstan. In a statement today, the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General’s…
Prominent Kyrgyz journalist killed in Kazakhstan
New York, December 22, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Kazakh authorities today to thoroughly investigate the apparent murder of visiting Kyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk. Pavlyuk, at left, who is better known by his pen name, Ibragim Rustambek, died in the hospital this morning after falling from an upper-story window of an apartment building…
Editor killed by unknown gunmen in Turkey
New York, December 21, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Turkish authorities today to locate the killers of journalist Cihan Hayırsevener and bring them to justice. Hayırsevener, at left, editor of the local daily newspaper Güney Marmara’da Yaşam, was shot three times in the leg on December 19 while walking to his office in…
Rebecca MacKinnon, Ahmed Rashid, and María Teresa Ronderos join CPJ board
New York, December 21, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists announced the addition of three leading journalists to its board of directors today: Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices, Ahmed Rashid, journalist and scholar, and María Teresa Ronderos of Semana.com.
Philippines, Somalia fuel record death toll
CPJ survey finds at least 68 journalists killed in 2009 New York, December 17, 2009—At least 68 journalists worldwide were killed for their work in 2009, the highest yearly tally ever documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the organization said in its year-end analysis. The record toll was driven in large part by the…
Journalists kidnapped, released in Afghanistan
Three journalists, all on assignment for The Guardian, were kidnapped in December 2009 and released after six days, according to the paper. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, an Iraqi, ad two unnamed Afghan journalists had been planning to interview militants in Afghanistan’s mountainous Kunar province near the border with Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province when they were abducted. The Guardian said…
Kazakh journalist and newspaper persecuted
After receiving reports of at least three defamation lawsuits filed recently against Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a prominent journalist with the independent newspaper Uralskaya Nedelya in Western Kazakhstan, in retaliation for his critical reporting on a state construction company’s illegal work on a gas pipe project, er issued the following statement…
Verdict in Ingushetia editor’s killing a miscarriage of justice
New York, December 11, 2009—A Russian police officer who fatally shot an online publisher in government custody in 2008 was convicted of negligent homicide and sentenced to two years in a low-security prison settlement today, Reuters and other news agencies reported. The family of the victim, Magomed Yevloyev, told CPJ they would appeal the verdict…