Europe & Central Asia

  
Photos of Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová are set on a table at the Bratislava offices of Aktuality. One year after the double murder, Kuciak's colleagues say they are committed to continuing Kuciak's work. (CPJ)

CPJ and partners call on Slovakia to ensure justice for the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak

Berlin, February 21, 2024—On the sixth anniversary of the brutal killing of Slovak investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová on Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists and seven other international press freedom organizations renewed their call for justice and an end to the cycle of impunity in Slovakia. Despite the hitmen and…

Read More ›

A placard depicts WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange outside the British high court on February 20, 2024 -- the day Assange's lawyers began his final appeal against his extradition to the United States. (Reuters/Isabel Infantes)

CPJ warns Assange extradition would be blow to press freedom

Washington, D.C., February 20, 2024—As the two-day hearing of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States opened in London on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists warned that extraditing Assange would set a dangerous precedent for media freedom. “Assange’s lengthy legal battle could come to an end if the…

Read More ›

Turkey puts 5 journalists under house arrest or judicial control 

Istanbul, February 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to cancel the house arrests under electronic tagging and judicial controls placed on five journalists and to stop equating journalism with terrorism.  On Tuesday, police raided the homes of five reporters and took them into custody in the western city of Izmir, according to news reports….

Read More ›

Russia bans freedom of expression group Article 19 as ‘undesirable’

New York, February 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Russian authorities to reconsider designating international freedom of expression group Article 19 as “undesirable” and cease using the country’s “undesirable” law to intimidate organizations that report on press freedom violations in the country. On January 23, the Russian general prosecutor’s office outlawed Article 19 by…

Read More ›

Three Turkish journalists found guilty of aiding terrorist organization ‘without being a member’

Istanbul, February 15, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities not to fight the appeals of journalists Ahmet Altan, Nazlı Ilıcak, and Fevzi Yazıcı and ensure that members of the press are not subject to judicial harassment. The 26th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes found the three journalists guilty of “assisting a [terrorist] organization…

Read More ›

Demonstrators

Drop in jailed Turkish journalists belies a long-simmering press freedom crisis

In CPJ’s 2023 annual prison census, Turkey was the world’s 10th worst jailer of journalists—its most press-friendly ranking in almost a decade—with 13 behind bars, down from 40 the previous year. But the latest numbers don’t tell the full story. Turkey has consistently vied with China for the top slot in CPJ’s list of shame…

Read More ›

CPJ condemns Kyrgyzstan’s order to shut investigative outlet Kloop

Stockholm, February 12, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by a Kyrgyzstan court decision on Friday to shutter Kloop Media, a nonprofit that runs the country’s leading investigative news website Kloop. “After last month’s mass arrest of journalists linked to anti-corruption outlet Temirov Live, the forced closure of Kloop—one of the most respected media…

Read More ›

Moldovan journalists Viorica Tătaru and Andrei Captarenco detained in Tiraspol

New York, February 12, 2024—CPJ condemns the recent detention of Moldovan journalists Viorica Tătaru and Andrei Captarenco in Tiraspol in the country’s east and calls on the authorities in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria to ensure that all journalists can work freely and safely. On January 24, agents with the Ministry of State Security—the security…

Read More ›

Staff members of Ukraine's investigative outlet Bihus.Info, pictured here in September 2023.(Photo: Volodymyr Neizvestnyi)

CPJ calls for transparent investigation into Ukraine surveillance of Bihus.Info journalists

New York, February 9, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed deep concern on Friday over the surveillance by Ukraine’s domestic security service (SBU) of journalists with the country’s investigative outlet Bihus.Info and called for a transparent investigation into SBU’s actions. On Monday, Bihus.Info published an investigation which said that 30 members of a branch of the SBU, the Department…

Read More ›

CPJ joins letter calling on British PM to protect journalists in the Israel-Gaza war

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday joined eight other prominent press freedom organizations in sending a letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war. According to CPJ data, more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of…

Read More ›