Dear Senator Abdykarimov: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is very concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions in Kazakhstan and government efforts to strengthen legal restrictions over the independent media ahead of parliamentary elections due later this year.
New York, January 20, 2004–The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns this weekend’s attack on Tomas Nemecek, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Respekt, which is based in the Czech Republic’s capital, Prague. On Saturday, January 17, two unidentified men in their early 20s assaulted Nemecek while he was leaving a grocery store near his home…
New York, December 2, 2003—Last week, a district court in the Belarus’ capital, Minsk, declared journalist Dmitry Zavadsky officially dead. Zavadsky, a 29-year-old cameraman for the Russian public television network ORT, disappeared in July 2000. According to local press reports, the cameraman’s widow, Svetlana Zavadskaya, initiated the judicial process in October 2003. Zavadsky’s body was…
New York, November 13, 2003—The Chelyabinsk Regional Court today amended the sentence of imprisoned journalist German Galkin from one year in jail to one year of probation, according to local press reports. Authorities immediately released Galkin from prison in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk. Galkin, publisher of Rabochaya Gazeta and deputy chief editor of Vecherny…
New York, November 10, 2003—Russia’s Supreme Court upheld the acquittal last week of two journalists from the Perm-based independent newspaper Zvezda who were charged with revealing state secrets. Yuri Shmidt, the journalists’ lawyer, said that the district court’s ruling was so strongly supportive of the journalists that it would have been impossible for the Supreme…
New York, October 30, 2003—Russia’s Constitutional Court today struck down part of a law that sought to strengthen state regulation over independent media outlets, particularly coverage of election campaigns. According to local and international press reports, the court ruled that a sub-section of Article 48 of the law “On Fundamental Guarantees of Voters Rights” is…
New York, October 29, 2003–The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today released an updated version of its journalist security handbook, titled “On Assignment: A Guide to Reporting in Dangerous Situations.” This new edition, which is available in hard copy and online (read or download PDF), draws on lessons learned in the most recent war in…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the investigation into the October 9 murder of Aleksei Sidorov, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Tolyattinskoye Obozreniye. We believe that investigators have prematurely determined that the crime was unrelated to Sidorov’s journalistic work.
New York, October 17, 2003—Police and security forces attacked and wounded dozens of journalists covering two opposition rallies held in the Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. According to local and international press reports, the Musavat Party organized several rallies to protest the outcome of presidential elections held on Wednesday, October 15.