Europe & Central Asia

  

Faces of impunity across the world

CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index lists the top 12 countries where the murderers of journalists go free. But impunity knows no borders. The mosaic below shows the faces of slain journalists around the world. Beneath each journalist’s photo is the location of their death. Click the images for more details about these unsolved cases. (Photo grid by Geoff McGhee)

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Press freedom activists hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C. to mark the first anniversary of the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Reuters/Sarah Silbiger)

Mahoney: Biden’s Saudi policy stymies quest for Khashoggi justice

From pariah to potential partner. That’s how far Saudi Arabia has come for President Joe Biden in the five years since Riyadh sent a death squad to butcher journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The administration’s ongoing rehabilitation of the petrodollar kingdom and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS, seems to…

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Mercenary leader’s death sparks hope for new leads in 3 Russian journalist murders

The August 2023 death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Russian mercenary Wagner Group, made headlines around the world amid speculation that President Vladimir Putin was behind it. But to press freedom observers, the death was notable for another reason: It may have signaled a new era in long-stalled efforts for justice for three Russian…

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Haiti joins list of countries where killers of journalists most likely to go unpunished

By Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director The persistent lack of justice for murdered reporters is a major threat to press freedom. Ten years after the United Nations declared an international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists – and more than 30 years after CPJ began documenting these killings – almost 80% of their killings…

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Georgian parliament reinstates controversial powers to sanction broadcast media

Stockholm, October 30, 2023—Georgia’s president should veto legislation bolstering the state regulatory body’s powers to sanction broadcast media, and authorities should work with stakeholders to devise a regulatory framework that enjoys broad industry support, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On October 19, Georgia’s parliament passed amendments to the country’s broadcasting law extending the…

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People take part in a rally calling for media freedom and the release of journalist Bolot Temirov, who was detained the night before, in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on January 23, 2022.

CPJ calls on Kyrgyzstan parliament to reject Russian-style ‘foreign agents’ bill

Stockholm, October 25, 2023—Kyrgyzstan’s parliament should reject Russian-inspired legislation that would classify externally-funded media rights groups and nonprofits that run news outlets as “foreign representatives” and could force many nonprofits to close, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Wednesday, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed in a first reading a bill requiring nonprofits that receive foreign…

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, accused of violating Russia's law on foreign agents, talks to her lawyer Edgar Matevosyan as they attend a court hearing in Kazan, Russia, on October 23, 2023.

CPJ condemns Russia’s extended detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva 

New York, October 23, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Russian court’s decision on Monday to detain U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until December 5 on charges of failing to register herself as a foreign agent. In a closed-door hearing on Monday, a court in the western Russian city of Kazan ordered Kurmasheva, an editor…

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RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva

Russian authorities detain RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva

New York, October 18, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Wednesday’s detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in the western Russian city of Kazan and calls on Russian authorities to release her immediately. “CPJ is deeply concerned by the detention of U.S-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on spurious criminal charges and calls on Russian…

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People hold up their phones with their flashes on after a protest march on the fifth anniversary of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Valletta, Malta, on October 16, 2022.

Malta must protect the press, 6 years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 12 other press freedom groups on Monday called on Maltese authorities to bring to justice all those responsible for the killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and to make the European Union’s smallest state safer for the media. Read the full statement below and read more about press…

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CPJ joins call for Turkey to ensure safety of threatened journalist Alican Uludağ

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined five press freedom groups on Friday in a joint statement calling on the authorities in Turkey to ensure that journalist Alican Uludağ is safe, as he has been receiving online threats since he was publicly targeted by two politicians from the government-allied Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) because of his…

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