Europe & Central Asia

2014

  

CPJ calls on Belgium to defend press freedom at Committee of Ministers

CPJ calls on Didier Reynders, Belgium’s foreign minister, to use his country’s presidency at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe–the largest pan-European human rights watchdog–to defend press freedom in Europe, and address violations by members states. CPJ’s letter highlights press freedom abuses in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

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Engaging Turkey’s leadership

Last month, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Press Institute met with senior Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ.

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Letter to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu

In a follow up to a Committee to Protect Journalists mission to Turkey in October, which included a meeting with government officials, CPJ sends a follow up letter to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.

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Letter to President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

In a follow up to a Committee to Protect Journalists mission to Turkey in October, which included a meeting with government officials, CPJ sends a follow up letter to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

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Letter to Turkey’s Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ

In a follow up to a Committee to Protect Journalists mission to Turkey in October, which included a meeting at the Justice Ministry, CPJ sends a follow up letter to Minister of Justice Bekir Bozdağ.

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Azerbaijan pressures press freedom advocate’s family, raids apartment

New York, November 6, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harassment by Azerbaijani officials of the family of Gulnara Akhundova, a regional expert with the Denmark-based press freedom group International Media Support (IMS). Akhundova’s 67-year-old mother was interrogated on Wednesday by prosecutors in Baku who raided her apartment the same day, according to local…

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Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Brussels last year. Hungary and its media law have come under scrutiny in the EU. (Reuters/Yves Herman)

Orbán walks fine line in Brussels with Hungary’s media law

“With the Islamic state offensive, the Ebola epidemic and Ukraine, Hungary is not on anyone’s mind in Europe,” mused one of our interlocutors during the Committee to Protect Journalists’ fact-finding mission in Budapest in October. “Viktor Orbán has really nothing to fear from Brussels.”

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Press freedom groups urge Russia to probe murders of journalists

On Sunday, which marked the first United Nations-backed International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, CPJ joined a coalition of international press freedom and human rights groups in urging Russian investigators to serve justice for our murdered colleagues.

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Russian actor condemned for wearing press insignia and firing weapons

Russian actor Mikhail Porechenkov has joined basketball star Dennis Rodman, who declared North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un his best friend, and Jennifer Lopez who sang “Happy Birthday Mr. President” to the authoritarian leader of Turkmenistan, on the list of celebrities who have made human rights faux pas.

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Tamás Bodoky, editor-in-chief of Atlatszo, which advocates for information access. (AFP/Peter Kohalmi)

In Hungary, an independent website defies censorship and pressure

A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, led by board member Kati Marton, traveled to Hungary in October on CPJ’s first fact-finding and advocacy mission to an EU member state. We went there in response to concerning reports of deteriorating conditions for the press, and met dozens of journalists, media lawyers, managers, rights defenders,…

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2014