Arson attack on investigative journalist
New York, June 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arson attack on an investigative reporter and his family in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. Attackers set fire June 3 to the apartment of Sergei Yanovsky, correspondent of the Kyiv-based newspaper Kievskiye Vedomosti. The newspaper reported that unidentified assailants poured gasoline through the…
Story satirizing Putin’s birth goal prompts government retaliation
New York, May 23, 2006—The Ivanovo regional prosecutor’s office in central Russia has opened a criminal libel investigation against Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor-in-chief of the news Web site Kursiv, for allegedly insulting President Vladimir Putin, according to Russian press reports. On Thursday, Kursiv published an article headlined, “Putin as Russia’s phallic symbol,” in which Rakhmankov satirized…
Opposition editor abducted, brutally beaten
New York, May 22, 2006–Five unidentified men abducted and severely beat Bakhaddin Khaziyev, editor-in-chief of the Baku-based opposition newspaper Bizim Yol, early Friday morning, according to local and international press reports. Khaziyev was hospitalized in serious condition with multiple fractures and bruises. Khaziyev, who is also deputy chairman of the opposition People’s Front of Azerbaijan,…
Opposition editor released from prison after 48-hour delay
New York, May 19, 2006—Authorities in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan today finally implemented a Supreme Court ruling to free editor Viktor Shmakov from pre-trial detention after a 48-hour delay, local media reported. Shmakov, the 63-year-old editor-in-chief of Provintsialniye Vesti (Provincial News), said he believed he was kept in jail for an extra two days…
U.S. House condemns impunity in journalist murders
New York, May 17, 2006—The U.S. House of Representatives has called on Russian authorities to pursue justice in the July 2004 murder of Forbes Russia Editor-in-Chief Paul Klebnikov and the unsolved murders of 11 other journalists in Russia. On Tuesday, the House unanimously approved Resolution 499, urging Russian authorities to “continue inquiries into the murder…
Court frees opposition newspaper editor from pre-trial detention
New York, May 16, 2006—The Supreme Court in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan today ordered the release from pre-trial detention of Viktor Shmakov, the 63-year-old editor-in-chief of Provintsialniye Vesti (Provincial News), according to local press reports. The court said authorities did not have enough evidence to hold Shmakov on the grounds that he would continue…
Prosecutor to appeal acquittal in Klebnikov case
New York, May 8, 2006—A Russian prosecutor has said he will appeal the acquittal by a Moscow jury of two Chechens charged with the July 2004 murder of Forbes Russia editor-in-chief Paul Klebnikov. Prosecutor Dmitry Shokhin said on Saturday he would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court, as allowed under Russian law, because of…
The world’s most censored countries
Could you pick out Equatorial Guinea on the world map? Or Turkmenistan, or Eritrea? Probably not at the first attempt. These countries are usually below the radar of the international media, and the autocrats who run them like it that way. It helps them crush press freedoms and keep their population in the dark. That is why the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based press freedom group, has drawn up a league table of the world’s 10 most censored countries. We hope that the list, issued on World Press Freedom Day, will shine a light into the dark corners of the world where governments and their political cronies decide what people will read, see, and hear.
Two charged in Klebnikov murder acquitted
Editor’s note: The final paragraph has been amended to make clear that 12 murders remain unsolved. New York, May 5, 2006— A Moscow jury acquitted two Chechens today of the murder of Forbes Russia editor-in-chief Paul Klebnikov after a trial criticized by the Committee to Protect Journalists for its lack of transparency.
Italian court frees journalist held after writing about serial murders
New York, May 3, 2006—Mario Spezi, an Italian journalist whose new book raises questions about a serial murder investigation, was released from a prison in the central city of Perugia on Saturday, according to local and international press reports. An appeals court that day ordered that Spezi be released immediately, but it did not issue…