In Uzbekistan, Deutsche Welle reporter faces criminal charges
New York, March 27, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the filing of criminal charges against Natalya Bushuyeva, Tashkent-based correspondent for the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. On Friday, the prosecutor’s office in the Uzbek capital charged Bushuyeva with tax evasion as well as concealing her income and working as a reporter without accreditation, according…
Television reporter attacked, sued, after critical broadcast
New York, March 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent beating of a television journalist who reported on corruption at a railroad company in Kyrgyzstan. Kairat Birimkulov, reporter for the Kyrgyz main state broadcaster Government TV and Radio Company (GTRK), was attacked by two unidentified men on March 16 near his…
Belarusian jailed on spurious charge; ’uncensored swearing’ alleged
New York, March 21, 2007—A judge in the western city of Grodno has sentenced Igor Bantsyr, a reporter for the independent Polish-language magazine Magazyn Polski na Uchodzstwie, to 10 days in prison for “uncensored swearing” in public. Judge Natalya Kozel of the Leninsky district court convicted Bantsyr on Monday after hearing testimony from two police…
Independent journalist receives death threat in Ukraine
New York, March 19, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a death threat made by a local businessman against independent bi-weekly Rivne Vechirne reporter Vlad Isayev for his critical articles. Isayev was threatened as he covered a dispute between local businessman Anatoly Pekhotin and the owners of a private parking lot in the…
In Moscow, Klebnikov murder trial delayed as defendant goes missing
New York, March 14, 2007—The Moscow City Court postponed the start of the second jury trial of two men in the July 2004 slaying of Forbes Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov after one of the defendants went missing, according to local and international press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities to locate defendant…
Local authorities close critical newspaper
New York, March 14, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the closure of independent weekly Dzerzhinets in the central Ukrainian city of Dneprodzerzhynsk and the harassment of its editor-in-chief. Dzerzhinets was closed on January 30, after the Zavodskoi civil district court convicted the paper of defamation and incitement of religious and national hatred.…
Russian journalists detained, harassed when covering local elections
New York, March 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that police and security services harassed several journalists covering local parliamentary elections on Sunday. Police in the southern city of Samara detained reporter Pavel Sedakov and photographer Artyom Pigarov of the independent business daily Kommersant when the two tried to interview a…
Azerbaijan editor receives death threat after report on colleague’s murder
New York, March 7, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a death threat against an editor in the capital Baku, four days after he reported that high-ranking officials there ordered the murder of his colleague Elmar Huseynov. On Tuesday afternoon, Editor Eynulla Fatullayev, of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and Azeri-language daily…