New York, June 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed that the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court today upheld journalist Grigory Pasko’s December 2001 conviction and prison sentence. Pasko was convicted of treason and sentenced to four years in prison on December 25, 2001, based on the charge that he intended…
New York, June 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s conviction of Mikola Markevich and Paval Mazheika, both of the independent weekly newspaper Pahonya. The Leninsky District Court in the city of Hrodno, in western Belarus, found editor-in-chief Markevich and journalist Mazheika guilty of libeling President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The journalists were sentenced to…
New York, June 24, 2002—Dragoljub Milanovic, the former director of the state broadcaster Radio Television Serbia (RTS), was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for failing to protect 16 RTS employees killed by a NATO missile in April 1999, said Serbian and international press reports. A Belgrade district court found Milanovic guilty of…
New York, June 21, 2002—The Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal on June 25 of imprisoned journalist Grigory Pasko’s December 25, 2001 conviction. Pasko’s defense lawyers are seeking his full acquittal and release. According to Russian sources, state prosecutors plan to use the hearing to ask for a…
New York, June 19, 2002—Belarusian journalists Mikola Markevich and Paval Mazheika, both of the independent weekly newspaper Pahonya, will give their final statements on Friday, June 21, in their ongoing criminal libel case. If convicted, the prosecution has requested prison terms of two-and-a-half years for editor-in-chief Markevich and two years for reporter Mazheika, said Belarusian…
New York, June 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the recent attack on German Galkin, deputy editor of the local newspaper Vecherny Chelyabinsk in the Ural city of Chelyabinsk. Two unknown assailants assaulted Galkin outside of his apartment on the evening of Friday, June 14, according to Russian news reports. The journalist…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the independent, twice-weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, could be closed by the Basmanny District Court of Moscow at any time following proceedings to seal the paper’s property that were initiated last week by a bailiff. This action comes as a result of an excessive damage award in a recent libel suit against the paper.
New York, June 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the decision by a United Nations war crimes tribunal to compel the testimony of retired Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal. In its June 7 decision, the tribunal ruled that Randal will be forced to testify regarding the accuracy of a 1993 article…
Tashkent, June 10, 2002—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today completed a nine-day mission to Uzbekistan by calling on President Islam Karimov to free three jailed journalists and to change government policies that severely restrict press freedom in the country. In recent weeks, Uzbek officials formally abolished prior censorship. But local newspaper…
389 journalists killed between 1992 and 2001, most murdered with impunity New York, June 4, 2002–The majority of journalists killed in the line of duty during the last decade were murdered because of their reporting, concludes a study released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists. This comprehensive analysis of journalists killed between 1992 and…