Europe & Central Asia
2018
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 29
Journalists arrested Police on the night of January 23 detained İshak Karakaş, chief editor and columnist for the online newspapers Halkın Nabzı and Artı Gerçek, at his Istanbul home as part of a sweeping crackdown on people who have criticized Turkey’s military intervention in Syria, the daily Evrensel reported.
Reporters harassed, verbally assaulted covering Czech presidential election
Journalists covering election night at the Czech presidential campaign headquarters in a Prague hotel on January 27, 2018, were verbally assaulted, shoved, and prevented from filming, according to reports and videos posted to social media.
Russian authorities arrest Sochi blogger on extortion charges
New York, January 26, 2018–Russian authorities should immediately drop the charges against journalist Aleksandr Valov and release him from custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities on January 19 detained Valov, the editor-in-chief and founder of a local news site BlogSochi, and, two days later, charged him with extortion, according to media reports.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 22, 2018
Journalists jailed Istanbul authorities on January 18 ordered Veli Haydar Güleç, the former board member for the shuttered TV10, and Veli Büyükşahin, a former TV10 chairperson and current columnist for the online newspaper Artı Gerçek, to be held in pre-trial detention, Artı Gerçek reported.
Journalists detained after criticizing Turkey’s Syria incursion
Istanbul, January 23, 2018 –The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the detention of at least four journalists in Turkey after they criticized its incursion into northern Syria, and urged Turkish authorities to release the journalists and allow the media to report without fear of reprisal.
As German hate speech law sinks Titanic’s Twitter post, critics warn new powers go too far
The satirical magazine Titanic appears to have been an unlikely victim of Germany’s recently adopted online anti-hate speech law, NetzDG. “We were truly surprised,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief Tim Wolff told CPJ, as he explained how Twitter blocked the Titanic account for 48 hours after the magazine republished a post Twitter had deleted, in which Titanic…
CPJ joins call for an effective investigation into murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a group of partner organizations to express concern over the lack of progress into the murder investigation of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Along with the journalist’s family, the group of organizations calls on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to appoint a special rapporteur to…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 15
Journalists in custody Police the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on January 12 detained Selman Keleş, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dihaber News Agency, and released him the next day on order of a local court, online newspaper Gazete Karınca reported.
Russia votes on bill to require journalists to register as foreign agents
Kiev, January 16, 2018–Russia’s State Duma should drop a bill that would require some bloggers and journalists to register as foreign agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Duma on January 12 voted overwhelmingly to approve the bill, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
CPJ joins call for EU to stop surveillance software going to rights abusers
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a group of human rights groups in calling on the European Parliament to vote tomorrow in favor of legislation that could prevent surveillance equipment from going to rights-abusing governments.