Europe & Central Asia
2007
Putin pledges to protect journalists
New York, February 1, 2007—Responding to an international outcry over the murder of Russia’s top investigative reporter, President Vladimir Putin vowed today to protect the press, a pledge welcomed by the Committee to Protect Journalists. For the first time Putin also acknowledged the importance of the work of Anna Politkovskaya, whose murder in October put…
Two journalists sentenced for defaming interior minister
New York, January 31, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal libel convictions of two journalists in a suit filed by Azerbaijan’s interior minister who has launched a barrage of defamation suits to silence independent media. Reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu and Editor-in-chief Sardar Alibeili of the weekly independent newspaper Nota Bene were sentenced…
Ingushetia police detain, beat, deport journalists
New York, January 29, 2008—Police in the southern Russian Republic of Ingushetia detained, beat, and deported journalists and human rights activists who tried to cover an opposition rally in the regional capital on Saturday, according to CPJ sources and local news reports. Authorities mounted a massive crackdown against the roughly 200 protesters in Nazran. Riot…
Officials harass independent newspaper in Uralsk
New York, January 29, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing harassment of a popular newspaper in western Kazakhstan which exposed local government corruption. The independent bi-weekly Uralskaya Nedelya has been subjected to retaliation from government officials since it began a series on corruption last July, Editor-in-Chief Tamara Yeslyamova told CPJ. Three printing companies…
Russian daily says Politkovskaya reports spur Chechnya investigation
New York, January 25, 2007—The Chechnya prosecutor’s office is investigating officers of the southern republic’s Interior Ministry in connection with articles by the slain investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, the Moscow business daily Kommersant reported Wednesday. The daily quoted Chechnya prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov as saying that Politkovskaya’s accounts of alleged torture last spring prompted his office…
Chechnya police may be behind Politkovskaya murder, Russian officials tell CPJ
Moscow, January 23, 2007—Russia’s prosecutor general has opened a criminal investigation into several police officials in Chechnya who may have killed reporter Anna Politkovskaya because she was about to publish an article alleging their involvement in torture. The information was disclosed to a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists in a meeting on Monday…
Journalist severely beaten in the Russian far east
New York, January 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brutal assault on Tamara Golovanova, a reporter for the newspaper Vesti in the far eastern city of Partizansk, who was beaten on Friday while covering a story at a municipal office. The attack occurred in mid-afternoon, when Golovanova was interviewing people at the city…
Independent reporter convicted of defaming president
JANUARY 22, 2007 Posted February 6, 2007 Kaziz Toguzbayev, Kub LEGAL ACTION Judge Natalya Rusakova of the Bostandyksky Court in the Kazakh financial capital, Almaty, sentenced reporter Toguzbayev to a two-year suspended sentence under Article 316 of the criminal code for “insulting the honor and dignity” of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, according to CPJ sources and…