Appeals court upholds criminal libel sentence of two journalists
New York, April 13, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Baku Appeals Court decision today to uphold the convictions of two journalists with the independent weekly Nota Bene on charges of defaming Interior Minister Ramil Usubov in a series of articles that described corruption and infighting in the agency. The court let stand a…
CPJ calls on Russian President Putin to investigate Ivan Safronov’s death as murder
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on you to act on your recent pledge to protect Russia’s press corps by ensuring that Moscow prosecutors thoroughly investigate the death of defense correspondent Ivan Safronov. There is sufficient basis to investigate Safronov’s death as murder, given its circumstances and the sensitivity of his reporting beat.
In Uzbekistan, third charge brought against imprisoned journalist Umida Niyazova
New York, April 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a third charge against a Tashkent-based independent journalist and human rights researcher, who has been imprisoned since January 22. Umida Niyazova, 32, covered politics and human rights in Uzbekistan for the Central Asia news Web site Oasis, a project of the Moscow-based media…
Journalists attacked, threatened amid growing political tensions
New York, April 9, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by an attack and threats against several provincial journalists amid escalating political tension between Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and opposition leaders calling for his resignation. “It’s the responsibility of journalists to report on political demonstrations and we are deeply concerned that journalists in Kyrgyzstan…
A second Deutsche Welle reporter criminally charged
New York, April 9, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the criminal charges filed against Yuri Chernogayev, correspondent for the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Tashkent prosecutors charged Chernogayev on March 27 with “working without a license,” under Article 190 of Uzbekistan’s penal code, according to international press reports. Deutsche Welle reporter Mikhail Bushuyev told…
Suspect in Kochetkov murder acquitted in Tula
New York, April 8, 2008—A Russian district court judge on Monday acquitted a man accused in the killing of Vagif Kochetkov, Tula correspondent for the Moscow daily Trud and a columnist for the local newspaper Molodoi Kommunar, according to news reports and CPJ interviews.
Neo-Nazis threaten to kill independent journalist
New York, April 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats made against Dinko Gruhonjic, head of the Vojvodina branch of the independent news agency BETA and chairman of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, by a local neo-Nazi group. The threats, which were posted on a neo-Nazi Web site this week,…
Russian editor faces five years in prison for “extremist activity”
New York, March 28, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal prosecution of Viktor Shmakov, editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Provintsialnye Vesti (Provincial News) in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. Prosecutors in the regional capital Ufa, 680 miles (1100 kilometers) east of Moscow, have charged Shmakov with “public calls for the realization…
Television anchor severely beaten in Bishkek
March 27, 2007 Posted: April 2, 2007 Daniyar Isanov, New TV Net (NTS) ATTACKED Four unidentified men approached Isanov, a news anchor for NTS, and asked him for a cigarette as the journalist was leaving the Kyrgyzfilm cinema in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek at around 9 p.m., according to local press reports.