Chernovik

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.

New York, May 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's court ruling in the southern republic of Dagestan, which acquitted Editor Nadira Isayeva and four reporters with the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik of long-standing, politicized extremism charges. 

New York, May 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on local police to investigate a Monday attack on Magomed Khanmagomedov, a southern Dagestan correspondent for the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik.

New York, March 10, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today at the continued criminal prosecution of five journalists with the Dagestani independent weekly Chernovik.

New York, August 28, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan to end their month-long offensive against the opposition weekly Chernovik (Rough Draft) in the regional capital, Makhachkala.

Investigators with the local prosecutor's office and officers with the Criminal Investigation (UR) department of Dagestan's Interior Ministry searched the homes of six Chernovik journalists on Tuesday, seizing a computer, books, and electronic files, in an attempt to find signs of extremism, the paper's editor-in-chief, Nadira Isayeva, told CPJ.

On The Huffington Post this morning, Magda Abu-Fadil has a blog entry that closely examines the situation for journalists in Mauritania and mentions our alert on the bloodless coup and how it might affect the domestic media.

Also this morning, the Web site The Editors Weblog has a short article about censorship in Dagestan, where we reported on a local editor being accused of "extremism" for publishing a quote by a former guerrilla leader in the independent weekly newspaper Chernovik.

And in news out of China, England's Times Online is running an article that questions whether the Chinese media is censoring the press in regards to the death of American tourist Todd Bachman.

Over the weekend, The Associated Press reported that Philippine journalist Dennis Cuesta died from the gunshot wounds sustained in an attack early last week. This sad development, coupled with last week's shooting death of Martin Roxas, a collegie of Cuesta's, is the focus of a story in the Sunday edition of The International Herald Tribune.

New York, August 7, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the decision of regional authorities in Dagestan to open a criminal case against Nadira Isayeva, editor-in-chief of an independent weekly, after the newspaper quoted a former guerilla leader in an article. According to news Web site Lenta, regional prosecutors in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, charged Isayeva with making public calls to extremism and incitement of hatred; if convicted, she faces up to eight years in prison.