Attacks on the Press 2004: Uzbekistan
UzbekistanUzbekistan’s stagnant economy and Soviet-style dictatorship continued to fuel popular discontent in 2004, and President Islam Karimov brutally suppressed dissenters to -maintain his control of the country. Karimov stonewalled U.S. and Western pressure for reforms throughout the year, cultivating his image as an American ally in the “war on -terror” and calculating that the Bush…
Ukrainian prosecutors report progress in the Gongadze case
New York, March 11, 2005—The questioning of Ukraine’s former president and negotiations to obtain a potentially key tape recording capped a week of developments in the Ukrainian government’s investigation into the September 2000 abduction and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze. The once-dormant investigation, given life when President Viktor Yushchenko took office this year, also…
Supreme Court examines complaints in Kholodov murder case
New York, March 10, 2005—The Military Collegium of Russia’s Supreme Court today opened hearings to examine complaints filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the parents of Dmitry Kholodov, a slain reporter for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, according to local press reports. Kholodov was murdered in October 1994 after criticizing then Defense Minister…
CPJ seeks to halt intimidation in Chechnya
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned about an ongoing campaign by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and prosecutors to intimidate and obstruct the work of independent journalists reporting on the ongoing war in and around the southern republic of Chechnya.
Former Ukrainian minister implicated in Gongadze case is found dead
New York, March 4, 2005—Former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko was found dead this morning outside the capitol of Kyiv just hours before he was to be questioned by prosecutors about the September 2000 abduction and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze, according to local and international press reports.
Editor of opposition weekly gunned down
New York, March 2, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Elmar Huseynov, the founder and editor of the opposition weekly news magazine Monitor, who was gunned down this evening in his apartment building in the capital, Baku. Huseynov was shot several times while walking up the stairwell of his building on his…
KYRGYZSTAN
MARCH 2005 Kyrgyz National Television & Radio CENSORED Senior government officials prevented journalists at the state-run Kyrgyz National Television & Radio Corporation (KTR) from reporting on rallies protesting fraud-marred parliamentary elections, according to local and international press reports.
Suspects detained; key witness injured in grenade attack
New York, March 1, 2005—Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said today that Kyiv investigators had detained and were questioning suspects in the 2000 murder of investigative reporter Georgy Gongadze, whose decapitation had shocked Ukraine and whose unsolved case had tainted the highest reaches of government. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the president’s announcement and urged…
Radio station suspended days before parliamentary elections
New York, February 25, 2005—A state broadcast regulator last night shuttered the popular Kyrgyz Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, known locally as Radio Azattyk, just three days ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections, according to local and international press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government to overturn the decision immediately…