Europe & Central Asia
2005
Journalist held on charges of “anti-constitutional activity”
New York, April 18, 2005—An Uzbek reporter for the state-run weekly newspaper Hurriyat (Liberty) has been criminally charged with “undermining the constitutional order” and faces up to 20 years in prison, according to local and international press reports. Sobirdjon Yakubov, 22, a Muslim, was detained in the capital, Tashkent, on April 11 on suspicions of…
UZBEKISTAN
APRIL 11, 2005 Posted: May 3, 2005 Sobirdjon Yakubov, Hurriyat LEGAL ACTION, IMPRISONED Yakubov, a reporter for the state-run weekly newspaper Hurriyat (Liberty), was criminally charged with “undermining the constitutional order” and faced up to 20 years in prison, according to local and international press reports.
Arrests in the murder of opposition editor met with suspicion
New York, April 8, 2005—Investigators in the capital, Baku, announced late yesterday that they had detained six suspects in the March 2 murder of Elmar Huseynov, founder and editor of the opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, according to local and international press reports.
Prosecutors reopen case of abducted journalist
New York, April 8, 2005—Prosecutors in capital of Minsk, have reopened the inquiry into the July 2000 abduction of Dmitry Zavadsky, a 29-year-old cameraman for the Russian public network ORT, according to the Minsk-based human rights group Charter 97. Olga Zavadskaya, whose son is presumed dead after disappearing nearly five years ago, received a letter…
Authorities launch criminal inquiry of Internews
New York, April 6, 2005—The prosecutor-general’s office in Uzbekistan said yesterday it was investigating the Tashkent bureau of the media training and advocacy group Internews Network on criminal charges of operating without a license, according to international reports. Witnesses have been questioned, “but at this stage nobody has been arrested,” the prosecutor’s spokeswoman, Svetlana Artikova…
Ukrainian prosecutor claims confessions in Gongadze case
New York, April 5, 2005—Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said yesterday that two former police officers arrested in March as suspects in the 2000 murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze have confessed to the killing, according to local and international press reports. Vyacheslav Astapov, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said the officers were cooperating with investigators in…
Supreme Court rejects editor’s appeal
New York, March 31, 2005—Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court has upheld the October 2004 conviction of Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat, on charges of organizing anti-government riots, according to local and international press reports. The criminal conviction was widely considered to have been politically motivated. “The many irregularities in Rauf Arifoglu’s 2004 trial,…
European Court faults investigation in case of murdered journalist
New York, March 31, 2005—The European Court for Human Rights ruled today that Turkish authorities did not conduct an effective investigation into the July 1996 murder of journalist Kutlu Adali in Cyprus and ordered the government to pay 20,000 euros (US $26,000) in damages to his wife. Ilkay Adali sought damages in 1997 from the…
Foreign Ministry accuses Swedish media of fomenting violence
New York, March 24, 2005—The Russian Foreign Ministry has strongly criticized Swedish authorities and media for independent news reporting on the conflict in Chechnya, claiming the information was fomenting violence, according to local and international press reports. The Russian embassy in Stockholm criticized the independent Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday for publishing an interview…