New York, July 16, 2002—In the latest instance of Kazakhstan’s official harassment of independent and opposition journalists, a prominent journalist has been charged with defaming Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Sergei Duvanov, who writes for several Web sites financed by Kazakhstan’s political opposition, was summoned to the Almaty office of the National Security Committee (KNB, successor…
New York, July 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is very concerned about the safety of Natasa Odalovic, a correspondent for the U.S.-government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a columnist for the weekly Danas, which is based in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade. “I have been under surveillance for the past three days and am very…
Zimbabwean journalists arrested and charged since Mugabe’s re-election on March 15 Name Date of arrest Charges Action Article or issue leading to charges Peta Thornycroft Mail and Guardian (South Africa); Daily Telegraph (UK) March 27 Public Order and Security Act (POSA) Released without charge, March 31 Investigating reports that supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party…
July 3, 2002 President Charles G. Taylor President of the Republic of Liberia Monrovia, Liberia Via facsimile: 231-225-217 Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to request urgent information about the status of Hassan Bility, editor-in-chief of The Analyst newspaper based in Monrovia, who is missing and is feared dead. Bility, together with…
June 28, 2002 Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Prime Minister’s Office Singh Durbar Kathmandu Via facsimile: +997 1 227286Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to request urgent information about the status of Krishna Sen, editor of the pro-Maoist daily Janadisha and former editor of the pro-Maoist daily Janadesh. A report published in…
New York, June 26, 2002—Six suspects accused in the October 1994 murder of Dmitry Kholodov, of the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, were fully acquitted today by the Moscow Circuit Military Court. The six men were released from custody following the verdict. The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the suspects’ guilt, according…
New York, June 26, 2002—Tajikistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has dropped its criminal case against Dodojon Atovullo, editor and publisher of the Russian-language paper Chroghi Ruz. Authorities have been searching for Atovullo since May 2001, when he fled in exile to Germany. According to a June 21 report from Interfax news agency, First Deputy Prosecutor General…
New York, June 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed that the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court today upheld journalist Grigory Pasko’s December 2001 conviction and prison sentence. Pasko was convicted of treason and sentenced to four years in prison on December 25, 2001, based on the charge that he intended…
New York, June 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s conviction of Mikola Markevich and Paval Mazheika, both of the independent weekly newspaper Pahonya. The Leninsky District Court in the city of Hrodno, in western Belarus, found editor-in-chief Markevich and journalist Mazheika guilty of libeling President Aleksandr Lukashenko. The journalists were sentenced to…