Council of Europe calls for sanctions against Belarus
New York, April 30, 2004—The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is based in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday passed a resolution seeking sanctions against the authoritarian government of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko for failing to properly investigate a series of abductions, including the July 2000 abduction of journalist Dmitry Zavadsky. PACE called…
TV station back on the air after a 40-day shutdown
New York, April 28, 2004—The independent television station Pyramida, based in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, was returned to the air yesterday after being prevented from broadcasting for 40 days, according to local and international reports. The station stopped broadcasting on March 17 because of a technical problem with the transmission equipment it shares with…
Journalist’s prison sentence commuted
New York, April 27, 2004-The prison sentence of Kazakh journalist Vladimir Mikhailov, director of Rifma Ltd. media company and founder of the opposition weekly Diapazon, was commuted yesterday into 180 hours of community service, according to the Almaty-based media foundation Adil Soz.
Parliament removes defamation article from Criminal Code
New York, April 26, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased by the Moldovan Parliament’s decision to remove Article 170 from the country’s Criminal Code. Article 170 called for up to five years imprisonment for defamation. Moldova’s authoritarian president, Vladimir Voronin, sponsored the initiative in March after European officials called on countries within the…
President vetoes restrictive draft media bill
New York, April 22, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s decision to veto a controversial media bill passed by both chambers of Kazakhstan’s Parliament earlier this year. In a speech today at the Third Eurasian Media Forum—a three-day summit of about 400 journalists, analysts, politicians, researchers, and scientists from more than…
Prosecutors close investigation into journalists abduction
New York, April 19, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has learned that prosecutors in Belarus’ capital, Minsk, have suspended their criminal inquiry into the July 7, 2000, abduction of Dmitry Zavadsky, a 29-year-old cameraman for the Russian public television network ORT, who disappeared in July 2000. Ivan Branchel, deputy head of the prosecutor’s organized…
Journalists beaten at an opposition rally
New York, April 13, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns today’s early-morning attack on several Armenian journalists who were covering an opposition rally in the country’s capital, Yerevan. According to local and international reports, four journalists were seriously beaten. Ayk Gevorgian and Avetis Babajanian, reporters with the opposition daily Aykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times); Levon…
Journalists attacked at an opposition rally
New York, April 6, 2004—Journalists covering yesterday’s opposition rally in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, were attacked by two dozen men in civilian clothes. The men smashed journalists’ cameras, assaulted several reporters, and destroyed filmed footage of the events, the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. The men attempted to disrupt the rally by throwing eggs…
CPJ concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions in Kazakhstan, including the politicized legal prosecution of independent journalists.