New York, October 9, 2008–An Uzbek court should reject the politicized prosecution of independent journalist Salidzhon Abdurakhmanov and acquit him on fabricated drug possession charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Prosecutors are seeking a 17-year prison term for Abdurakhmanov, defense lawyer Rustam Tulyaganov told CPJ today. Nukus District Court Judge Kadyrbay Dzhamolov, who…
I met Anna Politkovskaya in person only once, in 2005. She was in New York to collect yet another journalism award, and stopped by CPJ one October afternoon. I remember her crossing the lobby with an even, determined step. She had an urgency about her–that rare focus that comes only with absolute clarity about one’s…
New York, October 6, 2008–Three men will soon go to trial in the October 2006 assassination of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, according to local news reports. Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office approved the indictments on Wednesday, and sent the case to court on Thursday.
A week after the Committee to Protect Journalists released its special report on the current state of press freedom in Azerbaijan, “Finding Elmar’s Killers,” Ali Hasanov, head of public affairs at the office of President Ilham Aliyev, told local journalists: “Azerbaijan has done enough work to attain political pluralism, freedom of expression and of the…
Dear President Medvedev, The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Russia has recently denied entry to international journalists who have worked in the country regularly. We are especially concerned that Russian authorities have used a law that implies the journalists represent a threat to the country, but gives no explanation as to how.
New York, September 23, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s brutal attack on Ognian Stefanov, editor of the investigative news Web site Frognews, in Bulgaria. The editor and his family had recently received anonymous phone calls warning Stefanov to stop his journalism or face consequences, Stefanov’s deputy, Aleksandar Ivanov, told CPJ. The site publishes…
IPFA Awards 2008 To Attend the Awards Dinner (PDF) Bilal Hussein Danish Karokhel and Farida Nekzad Andrew Mwenda Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez Beatrice Mtetwa New York, September 16, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor courageous journalists from Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, and Cuba with its 2008 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in November. Bilal…
During his weekly television and radio address a year ago, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez warned that foreigners who criticize him or his administration while visiting the country would be expelled. Chávez ordered officials to scrutinize statements by foreign public figures and deport any outspoken critics. While analysts thought this declaration was yet another instance of…
New York, September 17, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the Lisburn Magistrates’ Court decision to charge four men in the 2001 murder of Martin O’Hagan, an investigative journalist with the Dublin newspaper Sunday World. O’Hagan, 51, was hit by gunshots from a passing car outside his home in the Northern Irish town of Lurgan…