Polish television crew freed in South Ossetia
New York, September 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s release of Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew members who were detained outside the Georgian village of Karaleti by South Ossetian militia members, and taken into custody in the regional capital, Tskhinvali on Monday. Reporter Dariusz Bohatkiewicz told CPJ that authorities in Tskhinvali transferred him and…
Polish television crew detained in South Ossetia
New York, September 8, 2008—South Ossetian and Russian authorities should immediately release three members of a Polish television crew detained today near the village of Karaleti in the buffer zone between South Ossetia and Georgia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Authorities confiscated equipment and cell phones from the Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew and were…
One journalist killed, another beaten in North Caucasus
New York, September 3, 2008–Authorities must thoroughly investigate the murder in Dagestan of Telman Alishayev, a reporter and host for the Islamic television channel TV-Chirkei, and the severe attack in Kabardino-Balkariya against Miloslav Bitokov, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Gazeta Yuga. Alishayev died today of gunshot wounds sustained in an attack on Tuesday in Dagestan’s…
Web site owner killed in police custody in Ingushetia
New York, September 2, 2008–Russian federal authorities must undertake a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into Sunday’s shocking death of Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the popular news Web site Ingushetiya, who was killed in the custody of police in Ingushetia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Putin and the tiger
This Monday, the fourth anniversary of the Beslan school hostage crisis, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sedated a Siberian tiger to save–or so legend has it–a state television crew. As survivors of the Beslan tragedy gathered at the graveyard outside the North Ossetian town to mourn the more than 330 victims–mostly children–killed in the massacre,…
Moscow must investigate killing in Ingushetia
We released the following statement today after journalist Mogamed Yevloyev died in police custody. Yevloyev was detained by police as he arrived at Ingushetia’s airport and was later found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. “We mourn the death of our colleague Magomed Yevloyev and send our sympathies to his family, colleagues, and…
Persecution of Dagestan weekly continues
New York, August 28, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan to end their month-long offensive against the opposition weekly Chernovik (Rough Draft) in the regional capital, Makhachkala. Investigators with the local prosecutor’s office and officers with the Criminal Investigation (UR) department of Dagestan’s Interior Ministry searched…
Olympics-China Media Watch: Re-education scrubbed from Web, mostly
Bob Dietz called attention to the Chinese propaganda department’s recent 21-point press directive, first reported by the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. The whole thing in English and Chinese is posted today at Berkeley’s China Digital Times. Among the orders given to the domestic media during the Olympic Games is that they are not to report on…
Turkish journalists fired on in South Ossetia
Journalists came under fire in their car on August 10 near Tskhinvali. According to the Turkish Daily News, Turkish journalist Recep Öztürk was wounded. It is not clear who was shooting at them–the lines have been fluid as the Georgians and Russians battle in South Ossetia. At least three journalists have been killed and 10…