Europe & Central Asia

2019

  
Kyrgyzstan journalist Azimjon Askarov and his wife, Khadicha, pictured during a family vacation in Arslanbob in the summer of 2009. 'This was Azimjon's last summer of freedom,' Khadicha told CPJ. (Askarov family)

Harsh conditions for Askarov, the Kyrgyz journalist UN says should be freed

On a recent morning in Bazar-Korgon, southern Kyrgyzstan, Khadicha Askarova was giving hasty instructions to her daughter about what needed to be packed. They were about to set off: first for the capital Bishkek, some 600km from where they live, and then another 70km to a prison colony where her husband, Azimjon Askarov, was transferred…

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Kadri Gürsel, left, is handcuffed by police outside an Istanbul prison on May 29. Gürsel, a former columnist for Cumhuriyet, and Turkey chair of the International Press Institute, was freed later that day. (AP/DHA)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 26, 2019

More journalists beaten in Turkey On May 25, three men beat Selahattin Önkibar, a columnist for the ultranationalist opposition news website Odatv, near his house in Ankara, the leftist daily Evrensel reported. Önkibar is the fifth journalist to be attacked in Turkey this month, in apparent retaliation for their work, CPJ has found.

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Anar Mammadov, editor-in-chief of independent news website Criminal.az, is set to appeal his conviction on false news, anti-state, and other charges on June 4. (Anar Mammadov)

Azerbaijani journalist to appeal 5.5 year suspended prison sentence

Washington, D.C., May 29, 2019 — Azerbaijani authorities should drop the charges against journalist Anar Mammadov and allow him to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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The Seyhan river in Adana, pictured on March 17, 2019. An unidentified gunman shot a journalist in the leg in the Turkish city, on May 24. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Adana shooting is fourth attack on Turkish press in two weeks

Istanbul, May 24, 2019–An unidentified gunman today shot Turkish journalist Hakan Denizli in the leg, according to reports. Denizli, founder of the local daily Egemen, was taken to a hospital and the police are looking for his attacker, according to reports. The shooting, which took place outside the journalist’s home in the city of Adana,…

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Protesters clash with riot police in Naples on May 16, 2019. Riot police recently assaulted La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone while he was working in Genoa. (AFP/Carlo Hermann)

Italian riot police beat La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone

Berlin, May 24, 2019 — Italian authorities should swiftly and thoroughly investigate the police beating of La Repubblica reporter Stefano Origone and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is seen on April 4, 2018. A reporter's camera was recently damaged by a security guard while he was reporting in the town of Šikulje. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic)

Security guard damages journalist’s camera in Bosnia and Herzegovina

On May 14, 2019, in Šikulje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a private security guard damaged the camera of Ademir Mešanović, a cameraman working for local public broadcaster RTV TK, according to a report by the broadcaster.

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A man holds a sign reading 'Writers' freedom is not guaranteed' outside an Istanbul court during a trial connected to the now shuttered paper Özgür Gündem, in December 2016. A court sentenced seven former journalists from the paper to prison on May 21, 2019. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 19, 2019

7 journalists sentenced in Özgür Gündem trial An Istanbul Court on May 21 sentenced seven journalists from the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem to prison after they were convicted of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” the Mezopotamya News Agency reported.

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Le Monde's offices are seen in Paris, France, on July 14, 2013. The paper's publisher and one of its reporters, as well as a reporter at news website Disclose, were recently summoned for questioning by French domestic intelligence authorities. (Reuters/Charles Platiau)

French journalists, Le Monde publisher called for questioning by intelligence agency

Berlin, May 23, 2019 — The General Directorate for Internal Security, France’s domestic intelligence agency, should immediately withdraw summons for questioning issued to journalists Ariane Chemin and Michel Despratx, and Le Monde publisher Louis Dreyfus, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The directorate has summoned at least four other journalists in recent months, according…

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Die Welt correspondent Deniz Yucel, pictured after his February 2018 release from prison, has testified about his treatment in a Turkish prison. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 12, 2019

Journalists beaten, hospitalized in Ankara and Antalya At least six men used baseball bats to beat Yavuz Selim Demirağ, a columnist for the nationalist daily Yeni Çağ, in Ankara on the evening of May 10, the same day that he appeared as a guest on a political talk show on the nationalist Türkiyem TV, his…

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The logo of the General Directorate for Internal Security, France's domestic intelligence agency, is seen at its headquarters in Levallois-Perret on July 13, 2018. The agency has recently summoned reporters for questioning in a leak investigation. (AFP/Gerard Julien)

French reporters questioned by intelligence service in leak investigation

Berlin, May 14, 2019 — The General Directorate for Internal Security, France’s domestic intelligence agency, should stop pursuing investigative journalists Geoffrey Livolsi, Mathias Destal, and Benoît Collombat in a leak investigation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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2019