Europe & Central Asia
2004
2004 IPFA dinner remarks
Remarks by Ann Cooper, Executive Director of CPJ At this event we celebrate the courage of individual journalists and we demonstrate our collective determination to thwart forces that would silence the press. Those collective efforts over the past 12 months have helped win the early release of journalists imprisoned for their work in Tunisia, in…
Klebnikov family calls for journalists worldwide to probe editor’s unsolved murder
Washington, November 18, 2004—The family of slain journalist Paul Klebnikov is calling on reporters worldwide to launch an investigation into the unsolved murder of the Forbes Russia editor, gunned down in a contract-style slaying outside his Moscow office in July, the journalist’s brother said today. “In this awful tragedy there are seeds of hope. We’ve…
Could face three years in prison for espionage
New York, November 18, 2004—George Buhnici, a reporter for the Romanian private television station Pro-TV, was detained yesterday by Bulgarian border police in the northern Bulgarian city of Ruse while he was trying to return to Romania, according to The Associated Press. The Bulgarian information agency Focus reported that he was arrested for using a…
Persecuted journalist granted asylum in the U.S.
New York, October 26, 2004—Ruslan Sharipov, an independent journalist and human rights activist who was persecuted, tortured and imprisoned by Uzbek authorities, has resettled in California after gaining political refugee status in the United States. In an interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday, Sharipov said he is excited to “taste freedom again” and…
CPJ condemns politicized conviction of editor
New York, October 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the conviction and five-year prison sentence handed down to Yeni Musavat Editor Rauf Arifoglu, who was swept up in a crackdown against the opposition press following last year’s tainted presidential election “The politicized conviction of Rauf Arifoglu is yet another government attack against press…
Journalist killed in her apartment
New York, October 21, 2004—Well-known Belarusian journalist Veronika Cherkasova was killed in her apartment in the capital, Minsk, yesterday. Her body, which had multiple stab wounds, was found last night, according to local and international reports. Cherkasova, 44, had reported for the Minsk-based opposition newspaper Solidarnost since May 2003. Previously, she worked for the independent…
Togo: Promises and the Press
In Togo, journalists are skeptical but see opportunity in the regime’s bid to shed sanctions. By Adam Posluns with reporting by Alexis Arieff With 37 years in power, Togolese President Gnassingbé Eyadéma is Africa’s longest-serving head of state. Even after the country introduced multiparty elections more than a decade ago, Eyadéma and his ruling party,…
Killers go free 10 years after Moscow journalist’s murder
New York, October 15, 2004—Ten years after a reporter for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets was murdered when a booby-trapped briefcase exploded, no one has been brought to justice in the slaying and the statute of limitations is about to expire. The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed outrage today that such a heinous crime…