2006
Journalists harassed
DECEMBER 15, 2005—JANUARY 5, 6, 2006 Yarl Thinakkurl Joy Jeyakumar, Veerakesari Namathu Eelanaadu HARASSED The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance said Tamil journalists were targeted several times for official harassment. The claims came at a time of rising tensions between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil separatist groups.
Military investigating newspaper over CIA prison story
New York, January 10, 2006—Swiss Defense Minister Samuel Schmid has instructed military officials to open a criminal inquiry after a Zurich-based weekly SonntagsBlick published a confidential document about purported CIA prisons in Eastern Europe, according to international press reports. Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Blaise Defago said on Monday that Schmid “ordered an investigation into how this…
In Klebnikov case, opening hearing held in closed court
New York, January 10, 2006—Three ethnic Chechens charged in connection with the July 2004 murder of Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov went on trial today in a Moscow court that was closed to the public, according to local and international press reports. Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev are charged with killing Klebnikov, an American journalist…
Police seize second print run this month of opposition daily
New York, January 10, 2006—Police have seized the entire print run of Belarus’ largest opposition daily for the second time this month, the paper said today. Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will), which has been harassed by authorities for criticizing President Aleksandr Lukashenko, lost all 30,000 copies on January 9. The paper has been forced to print…
India: Journalist killed in Assam after writing about corruption
New York, January 10, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in India’s northeastern state of Assam to fully investigate the death of Prahlad Goala, who was apparently murdered on January 6. Goala had recently written a series of articles on corruption in the Assamese-language daily Asomiya Khabar that linked local forestry service officials…
CPJ urges Putin to revive probe into disappearance of journalist Maksim Maksimov
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the lack of progress in the investigation into the June 2004 disappearance of journalist Maksim Maksimov in St. Petersburg. Maksimov, 41, an investigative reporter for the St. Petersburg weekly magazine Gorod, was last seen on June 29, 2004, when he went to meet with a source in the city’s downtown district, the business daily Kommersant reported.
CPJ appeals for release of freelance journalist seized in Iraq
New York, January 9, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the abduction of U.S. reporter Jill Carroll in Baghdad, and the murder of her Iraqi interpreter. Carroll, a freelancer on assignment in Iraq for the Christian Science Monitor, was seized on January 7 by unidentified gunmen in the Adil neighborhood of western Baghdad…