Europe & Central Asia
2004
CPJ sends letter to prime minister about intimidation of local media
Dear Mr. Prime Minister: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the Grenadian government’s recent attempts to intimidate the local media, including legal actions against the press for reporting alleged wrongdoing by you.
Federal Security Services refuse to issue international passport to journalist Pasko
New York, June 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) has failed to approve an application for a foreign passport for journalist Grigory Pasko. It is standard procedure in Russia that the FSB clear applications for foreign passports before they are processed.
LEADING TV NEWS SHOW CANCELED, ANCHOR FIRED
New York, June 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by reports that the popular news program “Namedni” (Recently) on the television channel NTV was canceled under government pressure. Leonid Parfyonov, anchor of the show, was also fired, according to local and international reports. On Sunday, May 30, Parfyonov was scheduled to air…
CPJ calls on Azerbaijan to allow journalist to return to country
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that Azerbaijani journalist Irada Huseynova, who lives and works in Moscow, cannot attend an international meeting of freedom of expression groups in Azerbaijan in mid-June because she faces arrest on criminal defamation charges should she return to the capital, Baku. Huseynova was invited by the Toronto-based International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which will hold its meeting in Baku beginning June 14.
Opposition newspaper editor shot dead
New York, May 28, 2004 – Dusko Jovanovic, the controversial publisher and editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Dan, was killed in a drive-by shooting early Friday morning as he was leaving his office in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, according to local and international news reports. Unidentified assailants used an automatic rifle to shoot Jovanovic…
European Court of Human Rights condemns Russia in media case
New York, May 20, 2004—The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that Russian authorities used a politically motivated criminal investigation in 2000 to try to take over the print and broadcast operations of Russian media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky. The Strasbourg, France–based court said that Russian authorities illegally harassed and arrested Gusinsky on charges of…
RFE/RL programming aired despite crackdown
New York, May 14, 2004—Two months after U.S. government–funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) broadcasts were pulled off the air in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a radio station in central Ukraine has begun carrying news from RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. Radio Takt, an independent station based in the city of Vinnitsya, began broadcasting RFE/RL programming on its…
Turkmen journalist brutally beaten in his Moscow apartment
New York, May 12, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is appalled by the brutal April 30 attack on Mukhamed Berdiyev, a correspondent for the Turkmen Service of the U.S. government–funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who was beaten by unknown assailants in his apartment in Moscow. He was discovered lying unconscious three days later…