Europe & Central Asia
2009
Internet journalist beaten in Almaty
New York, January 20, 2008–Several unidentified assailants attacked Yermek Boltai, a reporter and editor for the Web site of the Kazakh service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in Kazakhstan’s financial capital of Almaty on Sunday, the broadcaster reported. The assailants reportedly did not take any of the editor’s valuables, including his money…
Journalist, human rights lawyer shot dead in Moscow
New York, January 20, 2009–A reporter for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta and a prominent human rights lawyer whose clients included murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya were both shot and killed on Monday. At around 3 p.m., Anastasiya Baburova, 25, and Stanislav Markelov, 34, were walking together toward a metro stop in Moscow after a press…
Medvedev, endangered sheep, and online controls
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has tried to create an image apart from his mentor Vladimir Putin. Medvedev claims to support civil liberties, vows to combat corruption, and likes to speak about press freedom. In his first State of the Nation address last fall, Medvedev said the Internet was a guarantor of press freedom in Russia.
CPJ urges Obama to assert U.S. leadership on press freedom
Dear President-elect Obama: I am writing as chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists to seek your leadership in reaffirming America’s role as a staunch defender of press freedom throughout the world. Journalists in many countries who risk their lives and liberty upholding the values of free expression look to the United States for support.
Security agents seize hospitalized editor
New York, January 7, 2009–Kazakh authorities should immediately release Ramazan Yesergepov, ailing editor of the independent weekly Alma-Ata Info, who was seized from an Almaty hospital on Tuesday by government agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Video: Slain and in combat, dozens die in 2008
CPJ’s Joel Simon, Robert Mahoney, and Nina Ognianova pay tribute to journalists who died in 2008. The toll was highest in Iraq, but conflicts in South Asia and the Caucasus were deadly as well. Impunity in journalist murders in Russia, Philippines, and Mexico were top issues.