Europe & Central Asia

Berlin, February 6, 2025—Swedish authorities should quickly investigate the recent vandalistic attack on Sveriges Television’s (SVT) building in Stockholm and ensure the broadcaster’s journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  “CPJ is concerned by the repeated attacks on SVT, Sweden’s public broadcaster,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “This fourth attack of vandalism…

New York, February 5, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of Shamshad Agha, chief editor of the independent news site Arqument.az, and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release him and other jailed journalists. “Shamshad Agha’s arrest underscores a grim intent by Azerbaijani authorities to silence and further restrict the country’s small…

New York, February 4, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the two-month pretrial detention of Temirlan Yensebek, founder of the Instagram-based satirical outlet Qaznews24, on charges of inciting ethnic hatred, for which he could face seven years in jail.  “The incitement charges against Temirlan Yensebek raise concerns that he’s being targeted for his biting political…

New York, February 3, 2025—Ukraine’s domestic security service (SBU) opened a criminal case on January 28 for “disclosure of state secrets” after independent news outlet Ukrainska Pravda published statements by Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, at a closed-door parliamentary meeting. According to an unnamed source cited in the report, Budanov said that…

Berlin, February 3, 2025—Hungarian authorities should immediately drop misdemeanor charges against two journalists who were arrested in a parking lot as they waited to question Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and detained for three hours, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On January 30, police removed the independent online outlet Telex’s reporter Dániel Simor and…

Istanbul, January 31, 2025—Turkish authorities should release Halk TV’s editor-in-chief Suat Toktaş, who was arrested this week after airing an interview with an expert court witness, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.  “Suat Toktaş’ arrest and the detaining of the other Halk TV personnel is a political move by Turkish authorities to silence critical…

New York, January 30, 2025—Ukrainian military officers detained three journalists for eight hours on accusations of “illegal border crossing” on January 6 in Sudzha, a Ukrainian-controlled town in Russia’s Kursk region. The journalists — Ukrainian freelance reporter Petro Chumakov, Kurt Pelda, correspondent with Swiss media group CH Media, and freelance camera operator Josef Zehnder — had army…

Istanbul, January 28, 2025—A court in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır on Tuesday found journalist Safiye Alagaş guilty of membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced her to six years and three months in prison. Alagaş, who spent a year behind bars in pretrial arrest, remains free pending appeal.  “The evidence brought against Kurdish journalist…

Istanbul, January 23, 2025–The 25th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes came to a guilty verdict on Thursday in the retrial of five journalists arrested on terrorism charges in 2016, found guilty in 2018, and released on appeal in 2020. The court acquitted one other journalist. The defendants were charged for alleged ties to the recently…

New York, January 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by Azerbaijani authorities to bring six new charges against four Toplum TV journalists and the Friday arrest of the independent news outlet’s reporter Farid Ismayilov, who was remanded into pretrial custody.  “The new charges against Toplum TV underscores an unprecedented media crackdown waged by Azerbaijani authorities,” said…