New York, March 30, 2006—The Turkmen service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has lost contact with correspondents Meter Khommadov and Dzhumadurdy Ovezov for a second time this month, the broadcaster said today. Khommadov gave an interview to the service on March 23, describing the conditions of his and Ovezov’s March 7 arrest and 10-day…
New York, March 28, 2006—Authorities in the breakaway region of Abkhazia released three filmmakers on Saturday after detaining them for three weeks on charges of entering the self-declared republic illegally, according to local and international press reports. Abkhazian authorities handed over journalists Tea Sharia, Georgii Sokhadze and Teimuraza Eliava to Georgian authorities at a bridge…
New York, March 28, 2006—More than two dozen domestic and foreign journalists are now jailed in Belarus in connection with a tumultuous presidential campaign that included a deeply flawed March 19 vote and ensuing antigovernment protests, according to records compiled by the Belarusian Association of Journalists and other local press groups. On Monday, Canadian Foreign…
New York, March 27, 2006—A prominent Russian journalist was detained and beaten by police, another Russian journalist was expelled, and at least six Belarusian and international journalists were handed jail sentences as Belarusian authorities continued to crack down on journalists covering the aftermath of the flawed March 19 presidential vote. Five plainclothes officers pushed Pavel…
New York, March 24, 2006—Riot police in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, detained at least nine journalists as they stormed an encampment of 200 or more opposition protesters in October Square early today, according to local and international press reports. Police barred other journalists from filming or taking pictures of the assault, which led to the…
New York, March 21, 2006—Unidentified assailants beat a reporter for the Czech daily Mlada Fronta Dnes as he was completing coverage of a post-election opposition rally in downtown Minsk Sunday night, The Associated Press reported. The attackers broke Jan Rybar’s nose, leaving him with a mild concussion and bruises, and took his laptop computer and…
New York, March 20, 2006—Belarusian authorities muzzled independent journalists in the final hours of the presidential campaign—and beyond—as President Aleksandr Lukashenko won a third term in balloting on Sunday that international observers said fell short of democratic standards. Authorities arrested three Belarusian editors without explanation and barred at least four Russian journalists from covering the…
New York, March 20, 2006—Authorities have released two journalists working for the Turkmen service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after arresting them on spurious charges of hooliganism, according to international press reports. RFE/RL officials in Prague issued a statement saying that the two journalists—Meret Khommadov and Dzhumadurdy Ovezov—were freed on Thursday only after signing…
New York, March 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the ongoing government crackdown on independent media in Belarus ahead of a presidential election Sunday. Authorities barred two Polish journalists from entering the country to cover the poll, seized the print-run of an opposition newspaper, and pressured a cable TV operator to drop a Russian…