Prominent Russian defense correspondent dies in mysterious fall
New York, March 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death in Moscow of Ivan Safronov, a well-known military correspondent for the independent business daily Kommersant. Safronov fell more than four stories from a staircase window in his apartment building on Friday. Prosecutors consider suicide likely but have not yet completed their investigation, the…
Journalist arrested in Ireland; two others investigated
New York, March 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of freelance reporter Mick McCaffrey and the criminal investigation of Irish Times journalists Geraldine Kennedy and Colm Keena for allegedly publishing private information. Police investigated McCaffrey for several months after the independent Dublin-based Evening Herald daily published his August 2006 article about police…
Azerbaijani journalist’s murderers remain at large on second anniversary
New York, March 1, 2007—Two years after the contract-style assassination of opposition editor Elmar Huseynov, his murderers remain at large. When Huseynov, an editor and founder of the newsweekly Monitor, was gunned down in his Baku apartment building on March 2, 2005, President Ilham Aliyev called the murder a “provocation against the Azerbaijani state” and…
In Croatia, television journalist receives death threats
New York, March 1, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by anonymous death threats against Robert Valdec, anchor of the popular weekly program “Istraga” (Investigation) on Zagreb’s independent Nova TV. The phone and e-mail messages did not specify the coverage that prompted the intimidation, but local journalists and press freedom advocates believe they came…
Reporters stranded at airport for two days, harassed
RUSSIA: New York, February 28, 2008—Security guards at Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow continued to hold Natalya Morar and her husband Ilya Barabanov, both reporters with the independent newsweekly The New Times, for a second consecutive day. Authorities have denied Morar access to her lawyer while pressuring her to buy a return ticket to her…
Russian journalist on trial for defaming local governor in Internet chat room
New York, February 23, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal defamation prosecution of Dmitry Tashlykov, a reporter for the Kovrov-based weekly Vladimirsky Krai, for remarks made in an Internet chat room. Tashlykov was charged with defaming Vladimir regional Governor Nikolai Vinogradov in an Internet chat room in January 2006. His trial…
UKRAINE: TV news director violently attacked
February 18, 2007 Posted March 2, 2007 Anatoly Shinkarenko, 9 Kanal ATTACKED Two men violently attacked Shinkarenko, news director of the local television station 9 Kanal, in the eastern industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk. In late afternoon, Shinkarenko was leaving the café Gnom when two men began punching him, knockimg him off his feet, Shinkarenko told…
Independent editor jailed in Russia
New York, February 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the fate of Vladimir Chugunov, founder and editor of the independent weekly Chugunka, who has been imprisoned since January 21, according to his family and the independent Moscow daily Novaya Gazeta. Chugunov was summoned to police headquarters in Solnechnogorsk, 40 miles (64…
Russian police search IWPR office in North Caucasus
New York, February 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s official harassment of the Vladikavkaz office of the London-based media training and reporting group, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR). Vladikavkaz police searched the local IWPR premises today, confiscating all computers and office documents, Valery Dzutsev, the institute’s Vladikavkaz coordinator, told CPJ.…