Europe & Central Asia

The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with partners Access Now, Data Rights, and Human Constanta, filed an amicus brief on April 21 to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the use of spyware to silence journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. The brief was filed in support of a group of cases involving the secret surveillance…

CPJ joins four press freedom and journalist organizations to call on the Maltese authorities to make long-overdue media reforms an immediate priority, and to commit to meaningful and transparent collaboration with national and international civil society.  The assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in a car bomb attack in 2017, generated…

Istanbul, April 21, 2026—Turkish authorities must stop their improper and excessive use of the country’s disinformation law against journalists because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.  Police took Mehmet Yetim, editor-in-chief of the local broadcaster Kulis TV, in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, into custody in the early hours of April 18. On April…

New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a report on the state of press freedom in Tajikistan to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of November’s 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session. The submission details a significant deterioration of media freedom — in what was already one of the world’s most restrictive environments…

Brussels, April 17, 2026—European Union officials and foreign ministers should call for a full or partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement during the upcoming Foreign Affairs Council on April 21, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. The agreement sets out the EU’s legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation with…

London, April 16, 2026—Three men have been arrested following an arson attack on the London premises of Iran International, a Persian-language broadcaster whose journalists regularly face threats and intimidation from the Iranian regime. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on U.K. authorities to fully investigate this latest attack and put additional protection in place for…

Istanbul, April 15, 2026—Turkish authorities must stop harassing critical journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.  Zafer Arapkirli (of the leftist daily BirGün and BirGün TV), Barış Pehlivan (of the pro-opposition daily Cumhuriyet, and the Onlar TV YouTube channel), Timur Soykan (BirGün, Onlar TV), and Murat Ağırel (Cumhuriyet, Onlar TV) were sentenced to prison by two Istanbul courts in…

In a joint letter led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, six international press freedom and human rights organizations have written to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressing concern over a series of journalist detentions and growing pressure on the media. Since December, four prominent journalists have been placed under house arrest pending trial on criminal…

Berlin, April 10, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists and partner organizations marked the 27th anniversary of the assassination of Serbian newspaper publisher and editor Slavko Ćuruvija on April 10 by condemning the complete impunity for those responsible for one of the most serious attacks on journalism in the country’s history. Slavko Ćuruvija, a prominent critic of the…

Update: On April 10, a court in Moscow placed Roldugin under arrest until May 10, pending investigation.  Berlin, April 9, 2026—Russian authorities must immediately release journalist Oleg Roldugin and stop the targeted persecution of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose office was searched on Thursday in Moscow, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. On April 9, law…