Europe & Central Asia

  
Journalist Ivan Golunov is seen on June 7, 2019, following his detention by Moscow police. (Image via Ivan Kolpakov, used with permission)

Police detain, allegedly beat Russian investigative journalist Ivan Golunov

New York, June 7, 2019 — Russian authorities should immediately drop all charges against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, release him, and investigate allegations that he was beaten in police custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Austrian police, pictured at a World War II memorial in Bleiburg on May 18, 2019, that was attended by thousands of Croatian far-right supporters. A Croatian journalist says he was harassed and assaulted during the event. (AP/Darko Bandic)

Croatian journalist Danijel Majić assaulted, harassed in Austria

Danijel Majić, a Croatian journalist working for German daily Frankfurter Rundschau, said he was physically and verbally assaulted by a Croatian TV presenter and members of the crowd in the Austrian city of Bleiburg on May 18, 2019, according to Majić’s newspaper. A Croatian publication later published photographs of Majić alongside other journalists who covered…

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The Bundestag is seen in Berlin, Germany, on December 12, 2018. A piece of draft legislation would make it easier for intelligence services to surveil journalists and their sources. (Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch)

German draft legislation would enable intelligence agencies to spy on journalists

Berlin, June 7, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the German Ministry of the Interior to drop draft legislation that would make it easier for intelligence services to surveil journalists and their sources.

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Supporters of the HDP party gather for an election rally in Batman, on March 12. On June 1, a court in the Turkish city handed down a prison sentence for a journalist who died in October. (AFP/Ilyas Akengin)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 2, 2019

German journalist accused of insulting president A prosecutor in Ankara has started an investigation into German journalist Süheyla Kaplan who is accused of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and terrorism propaganda, Deutsche Welle reported. Evidence cited against the journalist includes a political cartoon of the Turkey’s president that she shared on Twitter, social media post…

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A screen shot of Russian video blogger Vadim Kharchenko, speaking on his YouTube channel

Russian video blogger Vadim Kharchenko attacked, injured in Krasnodar

New York, June 4, 2019–Russian authorities should conduct a swift and credible investigation into the brutal attack on video blogger Vadim Kharchenko in the southwestern city of Krasnodar and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A general view of Supreme Court in Warsaw, Poland, on September 13, 2018. A district court in Poznań, in western Poland, banned reporter Anna Wilk from journalism for 3 years in criminal libel suit on May 24, 2019. (Reuters/Kacper Pempel)

Polish court bans reporter Anna Wilk from journalism for 3 years in criminal libel suit

Berlin, June 4, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the conviction and sentence of journalist Anna Wilk in a criminal libel lawsuit in which she was sentenced on first instance for a fine and a three-year ban on practicing journalism.

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A news kiosk in Sofia in May 2017. An investigative journalist from Bulgaria says he has been threatened and that at least two news outlets have attacked him over his reporting on an allegedly illegal water supply. (AFP/Nikolay Doychinov)

Bulgarian reporter Hristo Geshov says he was briefly abducted; news outlets attack him

The Bulgarian freelance investigative journalist Hristo Geshov said he received threats and at least two news outlets published articles attacking him and shared explicit videos and photos of him after he reported on an allegedly illegal water supply and sewage system at the Chiflika resort complex in Troyan, central Bulgaria. He also said that unknown…

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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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