Europe & Central Asia

  
Journalists in a press room watch Mikheil Kavelashvili, Georgia's newly elected president and leader of the Georgian Dream party, take the oath of office during his swearing-in ceremony at the parliament building in Tbilisi, on December 29, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Shlamov)

Georgia media face fewer ‘ways to survive’ amid foreign funding crackdown

New York, May 30, 2025—A punishing spate of laws targeting foreign-funded media will dramatically curb Georgia’s independent voices and force many news outlets to shutter or shift their business operations, say Georgian journalists and press freedom advocates. Georgia’s populist ruling Georgian Dream party has pushed through its new Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)—called an “exact copy” of the U.S. Foreign…

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Ziyagul Bolot kyzy, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Aidai Erkebayeva and Zara Sadygalieva are among eight former and current Kloop staffers arrested and interrogated by Kyrgyz authorities about their work. (Screenshot: Азаттык /YouTube)

Kyrgyz authorities raid homes, offices of Kloop news staff, arrest 8

New York, May 30, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to end the legal persecution of eight former and current Kloop news website staffers arrested this week—including journalists Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Joomart Duulatov, who on Friday were remanded into pretrial detention until July 21 on charges of calling for mass unrest. “Following Kloop’s forced shutdown last…

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, Belgium, on May 9, 2025.

EU must make media reforms a reality in European Democracy Shield

May 27, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the European Commission to call on member states to provide both financing and political will to defend media freedom as it moves forward with its European Democracy Shield initiative. Public consultations for the proposed Shield, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced in 2024, closed…

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Bars TV station

Russian authorities raid Bars TV station, editor’s home over defamation case, seize equipment

Berlin, May 22, 2025—Russian authorities must immediately cease their raids on the editorial office of Bars, a regional television broadcaster based in Ivanovo city, and the home of its editor-in-chief, Sergey Kustov, return all equipment and documents seized, and ensure that members of the media platform are not threatened with criminal charges over their work,…

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Journalist Ozner Degur (Screenshot: YouTube/Medya Haber)

Turkish journalist Öznur Değer’s terrorism trial opens for her reports on PKK

Editor’s note: On May 22, Öznur Değer was released under a travel ban and judicial control until her next hearing on October 21. Istanbul, May 21, 2025—Turkish authorities should release Öznur Değer ahead of her trial on Thursday and stop conflating reporting on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) with publishing propaganda for the outlawed group, the Committee to…

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Headshot of Turkish journalist İsmail Arı

Turkish journalist, family receive death threats after reporting on bribery allegations

Istanbul, May 19, 2025—Turkish authorities should do everything in their power to protect BirGün reporter İsmail Arı and his family after they received death threats in connection with the journalist’s May 13 report  in the leftist daily on court bribery allegations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.  “Turkish authorities in Ankara must take the threats made against journalist…

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Furkan Karabay

Turkish journalist Furkan Karabay arrested again

Istanbul, May 16, 2025—Turkish authorities should immediately release freelance court reporter Furkan Karabay, who was detained during a police raid early Thursday in Istanbul, and stop detaining journalists who are trying to report the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. The detention marks at least the third in recent years. Later Thursday, an Istanbul…

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Prime Minister Viktor Orban (center) pledged to crack down on a “shadow army” of critical voices. (Photo: Reuters/Marton Monus)

Hungary’s Russian-style ‘foreign agent’ bill threatens remaining independent media

Brussels, May 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on European Union leaders to unequivocally and immediately condemn Hungary’s proposed “foreign agent” law, which would grant its government sweeping powers to impose restrictions on NGOs, independent media outlets and other organizations receiving foreign funding. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party introduced the bill on Tuesday in Parliament…

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Belarus opens criminal cases against more than 60 journalists in exile

Documentary filmmaker Maryia Bulavinskaya’s love of history led her to buy a traditional wood home in the Belarusian village of Rogi-Iletsky in 2019. Her plans to renovate and eventually live in the house were put on hold in 2020 when she fled the country out of fear of being detained for her coverage of anti-government…

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(Photo: RusNews/YouTube)

Russian journalist sentenced to 13 days administrative detention after filming anti-Putin protest

Berlin, May 9, 2025—Russian authorities should immediately release journalist Veronika Orlova, who was detained Tuesday in Moscow after filming the aftermath of a protest against President Vladimir Putin, and drop all charges against her, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Orlova, a reporter with the independent news outlet SOTAvision, was in Moscow to cover a…

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