Europe & Central Asia
2010
Kazakh reporter assaulted after covering oil workers strike
New York, March 30, 2010—Kazakh authorities must thoroughly investigate a brutal attack in the city of Aktobe that left Igor Larra, a correspondent for the Almaty-based independent weekly Svoboda Slova (Freedom of Speech), with a concussion and other head injuries, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Ruling obstructs Belarusian Association of Journalists
New York, March 23, 2010—The Belarusian Supreme Court has upheld a government order that will obstruct the work of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the country’s most prominent press freedom and media support organization. The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced the ruling, which was handed down Monday.
In bad company: Kazakhstan takes page from Belarus
Belarus has been termed Europe’s last dictatorship because of its long intolerance of dissent and press freedom. So accustomed is the world to the clampdowns of President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime that neither a recently issued decree on Internet access, which requires that providers record users’ personal data, nor last week’s police raids at a number…
Azerbaijani editor Zakhidov freed; 3 journalists still jailed
New York, March 19, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison on Thursday of Azerbaijani editor Genimet Zakhidov, who served more than half of a four-year term on fabricated “hooliganism” charges.“We’re relieved Azerbaijani officials released our colleague Genimet Zakhidov, who served 28 long months in prison in retaliation for his critical journalism,”…
CPJ urges EU leader to seek freedom for Cuban journalists
Dear President Rodríguez Zapatero: On the seventh anniversary of the Cuban government’s massive crackdown on dissidents and the independent press, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you as leader of the European Union to take the forefront in defending human rights by urging President Raúl Castro to immediately release 22 journalists now jailed in Cuba.
Spain must help free Cuban dissidents
Mark Twain once said, “In our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.” In the witty genius’ land, the United States, such irony suggests that people should not to waste the opportunities that democracy offers. But in Cuba’s case any humorous…
In Azerbaijan, Eynulla Fatullayev and family threatened
New York, March 17, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Azerbaijani authorities today to thoroughly investigate a death threat made against imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev, a 2009 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, and his family.
Under pressure, Kyrgyz stations halt RFE/RL programming
New York, March 16, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by reports that the Kyrgyz government has pressured several radio and television stations to stop carrying programming from the Kyrgyz service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).