Europe & Central Asia

New York, May 13, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to detain, charge, and prosecute three men who attacked Yrysbek Omurzakov, editor of the independent newspaper Tribuna, in the capital, Bishkek, last week.

April 2009News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

New York, May 5, 2009–Authorities in Rostov-on-Don must launch a criminal investigation into a possible attack on the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper who was found unconscious with a head wound in the early morning of April 30

New York, April 30, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Armenian authorities to apprehend three assailants who attacked Argishti Kivirian, editor of the independent news Web site Armenia Today. The unidentified men beat Kivirian early this morning, leaving him hospitalized in serious condition, Zhanna Alexanian, president of the Yerevan-based organization Journalists for Human Rights,…

Even though Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov announced two years ago the necessity of universal Internet access, the Web is more than restricted in the country. This is connected to cruel official censorship, the serious limitation of the availability and speed of Internet connections in cities, and its total absence in villages. I haven’t even mentioned…

CPJ names the worst online oppressors. Booming online cultures in many Asian and Middle Eastern nations have led to aggressive government repression. Burma leads the dishonor roll.

In our special report, “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger,” CPJ names the world’s leading online oppressors. Here, Deputy Director Robert Mahoney explains why CPJ undertook this report and how it arrived at its conclusions. Listen to the mp3 on the player above, or right click here to download. (5:34)   Read “10 Worst…

We issued the following statement after authorities released Ali Hasanov, editor of the pro-government daily Ideal, who had been serving a six-month jail term for criminal defamation. The journalist served all but one month of his sentence and was freed under the Pardon Act passed by parliament last month…

New York, April 9, 2009–Following today’s release of independent journalists Sakit Zakhidov and Asif Marzili in Azerbaijan, the Committee to Protect Journalists urged Azerbaijani authorities to free the remaining journalists serving jail terms on trumped-up criminal charges. 

We issued the following statement after Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office closed a criminal investigation into the unexplained death of investigative journalist Yuri Shchekochikhin in 2003…