Attacks on the Press 2005: Ukraine
UKRAINE Expectations were high that new President Viktor Yushchenko would sweep away the legacy of repression left by Leonid Kuchma’s authoritarian regime. Yushchenko won a December 26, 2004, presidential runoff held after hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the capital, Kyiv, to denounce an earlier, rigged vote in which Kuchma protégé Viktor…
Attacks on the Press 2005: United States
UNITED STATES An investigation into the leak of a CIA officer’s identity erupted, with one reporter compelled to testify about his confidential source, another jailed for 85 days before she testified, and a high-level White House aide indicted on federal charges of perjury, false statements, and obstruction of justice. Confidentiality of sources was under attack…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Uzbekistan
UZBEKISTAN President Islam Karimov engaged in a full-fledged offensive against the independent press. Unrelenting government persecution drove out more than a dozen foreign correspondents and local reporters working for foreign media; continual harassment forced at least two news agencies and a media training organization to close their offices. Karimov and his allies used trumped-up charges…
New judge in Klebnikov trial rejects appeal for open hearing
New York, February 15, 2006—A new judge in the trial of Chechens charged with killing Forbes-Russia Editor Paul Klebnikov rejected a defense appeal today to open the hearing to the public. A spokesman for the Klebnikov family told The Associated Press that the judge at the Moscow City Court ruled the decision to close the…
Court hits PEN with hefty tax bill, freezes its bank account
New York, February 10, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a Moscow court’s decision to impose hefty property taxes on the Russian branch of International PEN, an association of writers that promotes artistic exchange and defends free expression. The ruling against PEN comes against the backdrop of a government crackdown on nongovernmental organizations…
Belarusian election undermined by state abuses against media
Moscow, February 10, 2006—The Belarusian government’s persecution of the country’s few independent newspapers undermines the integrity of the March 19 presidential election in which Aleksandr Lukashenko seeks a third term, the Committee to Protect Journalists and two regional press freedom organizations said today. The groups called on the Russian Federation, the European Union, and the…
Turkish judge adjourns trial of five journalists amid scuffles
Istanbul, Turkey, February 7, 2006—Scuffles erupted between riot police and Turkish nationalist lawyers at the start of the trial today of five journalists in a freedom of speech case given prominence by Turkey’s European Union application. After more than two hours of courtroom chaos, the judge adjourned the hearing until April 11 to allow the…
Turkish court to hear criminal charges against five journalists
Istanbul, Turkey, February 6, 2006—Five prominent Turkish journalists are due to appear in court on Tuesday on charges of insulting the judiciary for criticizing a court decision to ban an academic conference on the killing of Armenians during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. The case has embarrassed Turkey, which is in negotiations to…
Reporter beaten in North Ossetian capital
FEBRUARY 3, 2006 Olga Kiry, Channel One ATTACKED Kiry, a North Ossetia correspondent for the national television station Channel One, was beaten when reporting at a hospital in the North Ossetian capital, Vladikavkaz. Kiry tried to report on the condition of patients hospitalized with serious injuries resulting from explosions at local gambling parlors the night…
Chechen comments lead to editor’s conviction for ‘inciting hatred’
New York, February 3, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal conviction of Stanislav Dmitriyevsky, director of the human rights organization Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and editor of its newspaper Pravo-Zashchita. Today’s verdict is based on the newspaper’s publication of comments from Chechen rebel leaders calling for peace talks.