Europe & Central Asia

  
Swedish journalist Kim Wall went missing while reporting on a submarine. Danish police have identified a body as belonging to the freelancer. (TT News Agency/Tom Wall/Reuters)

Kim Wall’s death in Denmark calls attention to risks reporters take daily

New York, August 23, 2017–Danish police today confirmed that a body found off Copenhagen is that of Kim Wall, the Swedish freelance journalist who went missing earlier this month while reporting on an amateur-built submarine, according to media reports.

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Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 20, 2017

New decree used to shutter three pro-Kurdish outlets The Turkey government shuttered three more pro-Kurdish media outlets yesterday, using a new decree issued under the state of emergency that has been in place since the failed attempted coup last year, the daily Cumhuriyet reported. Decree 693 was used to shutter the Dihaber news agency, the…

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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, shown here watching a parade before a Formula 1 race in Baku, June 25, 2017, has maintained strict control over the media over the course of his 14-year rule. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)

Azerbaijani news agency’s office raided

New York, August 17, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should stop harassing Turan, the country’s only independent news agency, and should allow it to work without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Ukrainian servicemen are seen at their position in Avdiyivka, eastern Ukraine, February 9, 2017. Ukraine expelled Russian journalist Tamara Nersesyan, accusing her of inflaming the conflict in eastern Ukraine, today. (Reuters/Oleksandr Klymenko)

Ukraine expels Russian journalist

New York, August 15, 2017–Ukrainian security and immigration authorities should remove all restrictions on Russian journalist Tamara Nersesyan’s ability to report from Ukraine, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Ukrainian National Security Service (SBU) last night detained Nersesyan, a special correspondent for the Russian state broadcaster VGTRK, and deported her to Russia.

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A newspaper vendor in Kiev in 2007. Security agents in the city have raided the offices of independent news website Strana. (AFP/Sergei Supinksy)

Ukrainian press union president threatened after criticizing raid on news website

New York, August 14, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the harassment of journalists in Ukraine and called on authorities to ensure the press can report freely, after the country’s National Security Service raided the offices of a news website and a member of parliament criticized Sergiy Tomilenko, head of the National Union of…

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A woman takes a selfie with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul, August 4, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 13, 2017

Court jails journalist pending trial for social media activity A court in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province ordered Mehmet Sıddık Damar, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), jailed pending trial on charges of “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization” in his social media posts, the news website Dihaber reported today. Damar had…

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Swedish freelance journalist Kim Wall. (Tom Wall)

CPJ calls for rigorous investigation into disappearance of journalist in Denmark

New York, August 12, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Danish authorities to mount a rigorous, thorough investigation into the disappearance of Kim Wall, a Swedish freelance journalist who was reported missing yesterday while reporting on an amateur-built submarine that sank off the coast of Copenhagen, according to media reports.

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A demonstrator stands next to padlocks left by prisoners in Istanbul's Metris Prison during a protest against the arrest of journalists and press freedom advocates, June 24, 2016. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey arrests at least nine journalists

New York, August 11, 2017–Turkish authorities should immediately free nine journalists police arrested yesterday on terrorism charges, and should release the dozens of journalists it has for months jailed on bogus similar charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained the nine after the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued warrants for the…

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Police patrol Barcelona-El Prat airport on June 13, 2017. (Reuters/Albert Gea)

Spain should release journalist arrested on Turkish warrant

New York, August 9, 2017–Spanish authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Hamza Yalçın, a writer for the monthly, leftist, Turkish magazine Odak Dergisi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Yalçın, a citizen of Turkey and Sweden, at Barcelona’s El Prat airport on August 3 and now detain him pending an extradition hearing…

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A screen shot of a Dihaber video shows a police officer scuffling with journalists at an August 6 opposition party protest in Istanbul.

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 6, 2017

Police detain journalist Police detained Berivan Altan, a reporter for the news website Dihaber, at checkpoint in the southeastern province of Mersin last night because there was a warrant for her arrest, the website reported today. At the time of publication, Altan was at Mersin Courthouse waiting for a prosecutor to question her.

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