Independent journalist kidnapped in Chechnya
New York, August 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of reporter Elina Ersenoyeva, who was seized by masked men in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya on Thursday. Ersenoyeva is Grozny correspondent for the independent weekly Chechenskoye Obshchestvo (Chechen Society), which is based in neighboring Ingushetia.
Editor assaulted after critical articles
August 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on Igor Mosiichuk, editor-in-chief of the independent Ukrainian weekly Vecherny Vasilkov, which follows a series of articles he published on local land deals and a controversial oil tank farm. Two unidentified assailants beat Mosiichuk August 14 in a street in Vasilkov, 23 miles (37 kilometers)…
CPJ Update
CPJ Update Committee to Protect JournalistsAugust 16, 2006 CPJ Calls for Release of Kidnapped Fox News JournalistsAfter gunmen ambushed a Fox News Channel crew in the center of Gaza City on August 14, and abducted correspondent Steve Centanni, a U.S. citizen, and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand, CPJ called for their immediate and…
TV editor convicted in criminal defamation case
New York, August 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a television editor’s court conviction on a criminal defamation charge. The municipal court in the southern city of Prokuplje upheld a lower court ruling against Slavko Savic, senior editor of the local television station RTV Kursumlija. The court, ruling on August 10, sentenced…
CPJ alarmed by reports of abuse in journalist’s detention
New York, August 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the fate of Ogulsapar Muradova, Ashgabat correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who has been in a Turkmen prison for almost two months. Officers from the Ashgabat Interior Ministry arrested Muradova on June 18 and have been holding her without charge…
European Court finds Ukraine violated journalists free press rights
New York, August 11, 2006—The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Ukraine violated the press freedom rights of a newspaper editor convicted in 2001 on criminal defamation charges stemming from a series of stories about two government officials. The court found that Oleg Lyashko, former editor of the independent Kyiv weekly Polityka, reported…
In Azerbaijan, editor sentenced to prison in defamation case
New York, August 10, 2006-A judge in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, today convicted the editor of an Azeri-language independent newspaper on a charge of criminally defaming a leader of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party, according to international news reports. Shakhin Agabeili, editor-in-chief of Milli Yol, was sentenced to a year in prison in connection with…
CPJ seeks lifting of travel ban in Tyre
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Israeli military actions that sharply restrict the ability of the press to cover the current conflict in Lebanon and that endanger the lives of civilians, including members of the press. We are particularly concerned about the safety of an estimated 250 journalists in Tyre, who are hunkered down in hotels and unable to move because of Israel’s threats to target all vehicles on the roads.
Magazine’s print run seized, editor harassed
MAY-JULY 2006 Smolensk CENSORED Vladimir Korenev HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Copies of the May edition of the monthly magazine Smolensk in the central Russian city of Smolensk were withheld by printer, Mikhailov Print Factory. The issue carried an article by magazine co-founder and Member of Parliament Viktor Drenkovsky criticizing Smolensk Gov. Viktor Maslov’s economic policies.