Europe & Central Asia
2011
Azerbaijan denies Fatullayev’s appeal, defies ECHR ruling
New York, February 1, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged that the Baku Appeals Court has rejected imprisoned editor Eynulla Fatullayev’s latest appeal and continues to defy a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that called for his release.On January 25, the court denied Fatullayev’s appeal of his July conviction on a trumped-up…
Belarus frees Radina, Khalip but sets severe restrictions
New York, January 31, 2011–Belarusian authorities must lift restrictions on newly freed journalists Natalya Radina and Irina Khalip, and drop the fabricated charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today. CPJ also called for the immediate release of the still-jailed reporters Boris Goretsky and Yevgeny Vaskovich.
Combating impunity, from commitment to action
This afternoon we sent out a press release announcing a $100,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support CPJ’s Global Campaign Against Impunity. The campaign enters its third year in 2011, having achieved some significant successes, including high-level commitment to prosecute the killers of journalist in the Philippines and Russia.…
EU has contradictory message on Karimov, Lukashenko
Unless European Union officials mean to expose the inconsistency of their own policymaking, they should stand firm by their declared commitment to defend press freedom and human rights in the former Soviet countries. For now, their drastically different approaches to authoritarian leaders in Belarus and Uzbekistan leave one questioning the EU’s strategy.
EU should press Uzbekistan on news media crisis
Dear President Barroso: We’re writing in advance of your January 24 meeting in Brussels with Uzbek President Islam Karimov to urge you to raise Uzbekistan’s grave press freedom conditions and to make clear to Karimov that any improvement of the country’s relationship with Europe is dependent on him taking steps to fix the press freedom crisis. The European Union made clear it is committed to human rights in Central Asia in its 2009 plan, “The European Union and Central Asia: The New Partnership in Action.”
In Belarus, two more independent journalists jailed
New York, January 18, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the ongoing imprisonment of independent journalists in Belarus and urges authorities to cease their crackdown and release all jailed reporters and editors. On Monday, authorities in Minsk and the eastern city of Mogilev jailed two more independent reporters on politicized charges.
Journalists continue to be detained and tried in Belarus
New York, January 13, 2011–As a part of the ongoing crackdown in Belarus on independent reporters, the Belarusian security service (KGB) has detained journalist Andrzej Poczobut, a Grodno correspondent for the largest Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and freelance reporter Irina Charniauka in Minsk, local press reported today. Poczobut was also summarily tried and fined
Hearing: Hungary undermines EU with new media law
When you see the top echelon of the EU press corps–The Guardian, Die Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Le Soir, and others–gathering in front of a meeting room at the European Parliament in Brussels you know that you should follow them inside. These seasoned correspondents select their assignments with a keen sense of urgency, and when they skip…
More raids on journalists’ homes amid Belarus crackdown
New York, January 12, 2011–As part of an ongoing assault on the independent press in Belarus, KGB agents in Minsk raided the apartments of imprisoned journalist Irina Khalip and her mother, Lyutsina Khalip, and took the journalist’s computer, the independent news website Charter 97 reported. Today’s raids are the second at each apartment since the agency imprisoned the journalist on December…
Post-election crackdown on the press continues in Belarus
New York, January 11, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing official crackdown against the independent media in Belarus. The Belarusian security service, known as the KGB, continues to relentlessly raid newsrooms, confiscate reporting equipment from publications and journalists’ homes, imprison independent and pro-opposition journalists, and harass their families.