Azerbaijan extends pretrial detentions of journalists facing currency smuggling charges
Stockholm, July 11, 2024 – Azerbaijani authorities have extended the pretrial detentions of 11 journalists in recent weeks as part of an ongoing crackdown on the country’s few remaining independent media outlets. The journalists are among 13 media workers from four independent outlets charged since November with currency smuggling related to alleged receipt of Western…
CPJ joins call for Turkish authorities to revoke decision canceling radio’s license
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 17 press freedom and human rights organizations in a Wednesday, July 10 statement asking Turkey’s official media watchdog RTÜK to revoke its cancellation of independent Açık Radyo’s (The Open Radio) broadcast license. In May, RTÜK fined and issued a gag order after the outlet mentioned the mass killings of…
Strike injures 2 Iraqi Kurdish reporters in Sinjar
UPDATE: Çira TV reporter Murad Mirza died on July 11 of injuries sustained in the drone strike. He was buried on July 12 in the Girê Gewir Cemetery, according to his outlet. Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish and Iraqi authorities to investigate after a suspected Turkish strike injured two Iraqi…
Greek journalist beaten on air while reporting from Athens fire
On June 19, 2024, Frixos Drakontidis was reporting live from the scene of a fire in Varis-Koropiou, a southern suburb of the capital Athens, when an unidentified man approached him and asked him to leave the premises of a company hit by the blaze. When Drakontidis refused, saying that he was a journalist with Protothema…
CPJ joins call for new European authorities to support media freedom in Turkey
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 18 press freedom and human rights organizations in a Tuesday statement asking the new European Commission and the new European Parliament to prioritize press freedom and freedom of speech in dealings with Turkey. The signatories asked the European authorities to “provide support, including direct financial grants, to media organizations”…
Turkish court sentences 8 Kurdish journalists to 6 years
Istanbul, July 3, 2024—Turkish authorities should not contest the appeals of eight journalists sentenced to six years and three months in prison on Wednesday and stop prosecuting journalists with baseless claims of terrorism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. The 4th Ankara Court of Serious Crimes convicted eight journalists on charges of membership in…
Kosovo newspaper Insajderi threatened with injury, arson after criminal report
Berlin, July 3, 2024—Kosovo authorities should conduct a quick and thorough investigation into the threats of physical violence made against the staff of the online investigative newspaper Insajderi, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure the journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. The Insajderi newsroom received around 10 phone calls from various…
Russian journalist Timofei Ilyushin held for 2 days in Transnistria
New York, June 28, 2024—CPJ condemns the recent detention of Russian journalist Timofei Ilyushin in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria and calls on local authorities to ensure that all journalists can work freely and safely in the territory. On June 24, agents with the Ministry of State Security—the security service of Moldova’s unrecognized, Russia-backed separatist…
CPJ, others express solidarity with journalists, NGOs targeted by Hungary’s Russian-style Sovereignty Protection Office
Berlin, June 28, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined nine international press freedom and human rights organizations in expressing solidarity with NGOs Transparency International Hungary and Átlátszó, which Hungary authorities have targeted with investigations. The joint statement urged the European Commission and EU Member States to take immediate and decisive action to protect NGOs and…
North Macedonia journalist Lepa Dzhundeva threatened with sexual, physical violence
Berlin, June 28, 2024 — North Macedonian authorities must swiftly and thoroughly investigate the online harassment and violent threats sent to journalist Lepa Dzhundeva, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure her safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Dzhundeva, a reporter for privately owned channel TV 24, has received dozens of social media…