New York, June 17, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces repeated efforts by authorities in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia to shut down the regional news Web site Ingushetiya—one of the few remaining independent news outlets covering the volatile North Caucasus—for alleged extremism. On June 6, Kuntsevo district court in Moscow ordered the closure…
New York, June 17, 2008–Police in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek raided the newsroom of independent newspaper De-Facto on June 14, taking all its financial records, confiscating computers, and sealing the newsroom, the independent regional news Web site Ferghana reported. The paper was shut down after it published a letter to Kyrgyzstan’s president and other…
AZERBAIJAN: New York, June 16, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the police beating of Emin Huseynov, head of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS), in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 14. Huseynov was covering an event for the 80th birthday of slain Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara. Policed raided the event and…
New York, June 13, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the June 7 arrest of Salidzhon Abdurakhmanov, an independent Uzbek journalist for a number of international news outlets. Police arrested Abdurakhmanov in the city of Nukus for alleged drug possession, independent news Web site Uznews reported. If convicted, Abdurakhmanov faces up to five…
New York, June 13, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the June 7 arrest of Solidzhon Abdurakhmonov, an independent Uzbek journalist for a number of international news outlets. Police arrested Abdurakhmonov in the city of Nukus for alleged drug possession, independent news Web site Uznews reported. If convicted, Abdurakhmonov faces up to five…
New York, June 4, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brazen attack on investigative reporter Dusan Miljus, who covers organized crime and corruption for the popular Croatian daily Jutarnji List. According to Reuters, two unidentified men beat Miljus with baseball bats in a parking lot near his house in Zagreb on Monday evening. Miljus…
New York, May 20, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the safety of Agil Khalil, a reporter for the opposition daily Azadlyg who has been assaulted several times in the past three months. Authorities have taken no measures to guarantee his protection, according to local CPJ sources. On May 10, Khalil tried…
New York, May 15, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to veto a bill that would reverse efforts to reform Kyrgyzstan’s state television and radio company (KTR) into a public broadcaster. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed the bill on April 24. It gives the president the right to appoint KTR’s chief…
Dear Mr. President, On the third anniversary of the May 13, 2005, massacre of civilians by Uzbek security forces in the city of Andijan, the Committee to Protect Journalists–an independent, nonpartisan organization that defends journalist rights worldwide–calls on you and your government to cease your unrelenting repression of Uzbekistan’s independent and opposition media.