Uzbek reporter freed after serving term for ‘insulting’ officer
New York, February 28, 2006—Nosir Zokirov, a correspondent for the Uzbek service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was released from prison on Sunday after serving a six-month sentence for insulting a security officer, the broadcaster reported. Zokirov, 55, a veteran RFE/RL correspondent in the eastern city of Namangan, was detained, tried…
NTV reporter found murdered in Moscow apartment
New York, February 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for a thorough investigation into the killing of Ilya Zimin, a 33-year-old correspondent for the national television station NTV, who was found murdered in his Moscow apartment. Several of Zimin’s colleagues from NTV—which is owned by the state oil giant Gazprom—went to his apartment…
Investigative reporter assaulted
FEBRUARY 23, 2006 Posted: June 16, 2006 Vladimir Voronov, Novoye Vremya ATTACKED Voronov, an investigative reporter for the Moscow weeklies Novoye Vremya and Ezhenedelny Zhurnal, was attacked near his Moscow home in the early hours by two unidentified assailants who escaped, according Russian press reports.
CPJ alarmed by attacks on Chinese journalists in U.S.
New York, February 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by attacks and threats against ethnic Chinese journalists based in or near the U.S. cities of Atlanta, San Francisco, and New York. Journalists for the Falun Gong-affiliated newspaper and Web site Epoch Times told CPJ that they believe they have been targeted in retaliation…
In Belarus and India, governments launch criminal actionsCartoon furor becomes press freedom crisis
New York, February 23, 2006—Controversy over the publication of drawings of the Prophet Muhammed continued to grow as an international press freedom crisis on Thursday as Indian authorities imprisoned a magazine editor and Belarusian prosecutors opened a criminal probe into a weekly newspaper. In each case, the publications said they printed one or more cartoons…
One Romanian journalist indicted, another freed on secrets charge
New York, February 22, 2006—Prosecutors in the eastern city of Focsani today indicted journalist Sebastian Oancea for possessing classified military documents about Western forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, the second such arrest in less than week, according to local and international press reports. Oancea, Focsani correspondent for the national daily Ziua, faces up to seven…
Second Russian paper closes in wake of Danish cartoon controversy
New York, February 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the closure of a second Russian newspaper that published religious cartoons related to the controversy over Danish drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. The weekly Nash Region in the city of Vologda ran a montage of the Danish cartoons on February 15, with some…
Authorities expel Polish journalist
New York, February 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the expulsion of a Polish journalist after he legally entered Belarus to report on presidential elections next month. Border guards detained Gazeta Wyborcza correspondent Waclaw Radziwinowicz on Sunday at the train station in the Western city of Grodno as he was traveling to the capital…
Paper closed for publishing cartoon of world religious figures
New York, February 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of a newspaper in the Russian city of Volgograd for publishing a cartoon of leading figures of Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Daily Gorodskiye Vesti (City News), which is partly owned by the Volgograd city administration, ran a cartoon on February 9 depicting…
Journalist arrested for not revealing source of classified document leak
New York, February 17, 2006—A Romanian court today remanded journalist Marian Garleanu of newspaper Romania Libera to 10 days in custody for possessing classified military documents about Western troops in Afghanistan and Iraq which he did not publish. Garleanu was arrested Thursday in the eastern city of Focsani as part of a broader investigation of…