Caucasus

New York, December 15, 2011--Today's murder of Gadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of the independent newspaper Chernovik in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan today is a lethal blow to press freedom, said the Committee to Protect Journalists.

It's easy to use polarizing descriptions of online news-gathering. It's the domain of citizen journalists, blogging without pay and institutional support, or it's a sector filled with the digital works of "mainstream media" facing financial worries and struggling to offer employees the protection they once provided. But there is a growing middle ground: trained reporters and editors who work exclusively online on projects born independent of traditional media. They share many of the practices of an older generation of reporters, but their work draws from the decentralized and agile practices of the digital world. 

New York, August 11, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the slaying in Dagestan today of Abdulmalik Akhmedilov, an editor known for his critical commentary, and urges Russian authorities to thoroughly probe journalism as the motive. Akhmedilov, 32, left, was shot in his car at around 1 p.m. local time on the outskirts of Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, the independent Caucasus news Web site Kavkazsky Uzel reported. 

New York, November 19, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brazen attack on Edik Baghdasarian, the editor of the Yerevan-based online newsmagazine Hetq. Three unidentified men ambushed Baghdasarian on Monday outside his office and badly beat him. 

I met Anna Politkovskaya in person only once, in 2005. She was in New York to collect yet another journalism award, and stopped by CPJ one October afternoon.

I remember her crossing the lobby with an even, determined step. She had an urgency about her--that rare focus that comes only with absolute clarity about one's mission in life. Politkovskaya's passion was almost tangible--neither her low voice nor her poised delivery could camouflage it. It radiated from her whole being--her hand gestures; her steady gaze; the way she tossed back her strikingly gray hair. 

"The current situation has made it necessary for the First Main Directorate (PGU) of [Russia's] KGB to give the First Main Directorate of [Bulgaria's] Ministry of Internal Affairs the following special means: devices for silent, mechanical ejection of special needles, containing swift poisons. ..."

The above is an excerpt from Addendum 13 of the "Perspective plan for cooperation between the intelligence services of USSR and communist Bulgaria in the period 1972-1975"--a secret document made public thanks to Hristo Hristov, an investigative reporter with the Bulgarian independent daily Dnevnik who won a six-year-long legal battle for access to the secret archives of Bulgaria's National Investigative Service (NRS), the country's security agency. Last week, Hristov published his book The Double Life of Agent Piccadilly, based on more than 90 volumes of previously undisclosed NRS documents that shed light on the 1978 murder in London of Bulgarian dissident journalist Georgi Markov. 

New York, September 3, 2008--Authorities must thoroughly investigate the murder in Dagestan of Telman Alishayev, a reporter and host for the Islamic television channel TV-Chirkei, and the severe attack in Kabardino-Balkariya against Miloslav Bitokov, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Gazeta Yuga.

Alishayev died today of gunshot wounds sustained in an attack on Tuesday in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala. He is the second journalist to be shot and killed in the restive North Caucasus region in three days. Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of the critical news Web site Ingushetiya, was killed in the custody of Ingush police on Sunday.

Killings and attacks on journalists in the North Caucasus region of Russia continues to be in the news today, with Philadelphia-based newspaper The Bulletin running a story about the violence.

Web site Reclaim the Media has reporting about the arrests of various journalists covering the RNC, and mentions our coverage. The Huffington Post also had a blog entry yesterday about the arrests in St. Paul and the lack of coverage on them.

Britain's The Telegraph online has a long piece analyzing Cuban life in the post-Castro era and cites our research on the continued repression of a free press there, pointing out that "Cuba is still one of the world's most censored nations."

New York, September 2, 2008--Russian federal authorities must undertake a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into Sunday's shocking death of Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the popular news Web site Ingushetiya, who was killed in the custody of police in Ingushetia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

This Monday, the fourth anniversary of the Beslan school hostage crisis, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sedated a Siberian tiger to save--or so legend has it--a state television crew.

As survivors of the Beslan tragedy gathered at the graveyard outside the North Ossetian town to mourn the more than 330 victims--mostly children--killed in the massacre, Putin was roaming the wilderness of Russia's far east. Roaming it with television cameras and a tranquilizer gun.