Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent confiscation of more than 100,000 copies of the Minsk-based independent weekly Rabochy. On September 13, according to local sources, police confiscated 112,000 copies of a special edition of Rabochy, nearly a third of the total print run, from the Magic publishing house in Minsk. The newspaper, published by the Belarusian Free Trade Union, had urged its readers to participate in the “Boycott-2000” campaign being organized by the opposition prior to the October 15 parliamentary elections. The police claimed that publishing a call to boycott the election was illegal.
1. The issuing under your signature of the new “Doctrine on Information Security of the Russian Federation,” a Cold War-style text whose broad, ambiguous language can be used to justify severe repression of press freedom. 2. Your own statement — despite what you yourself have characterized as governmental mishandling of communication with the public over…
Read more about press freedom conditions in Russia New York, September 22, 2000 — Late last night, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reporter Iskandr Khatloni was attacked in his Moscow apartment by an unknown, axe-wielding assailant. Khatloni was struck twice in the head, according to the Moscow bureau of RFE/RL. He then stumbled onto the…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in RUSSIA New York, September 22, 2000 — Alarmed at what they see as serious and intensifying threats against press freedom in Russia, leaders of major international free-press organizations have called on President Vladimir Putin to respect freedom of expression.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in AZERBAIJAN New York, September 21, 2000 — Azeri editor Rauf Arifoglu, jailed since August 22 on charges of terrorism, illegal possession of arms, and attempted hijacking, has been hit with a new charge of “calling for a coup d’etat.” If convicted on all counts, he…
Read more about press freedom conditions in Russia New York, September 20, 2000 — A regional court in the Russian republic of Dagestan announced yesterday that the trial of the Russian journalist Andrei Babitsky will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 2. Babitsky, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) correspondent whose reporting on the…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in YUGOSLAVIA New York, September 14, 2000 — A well-known ethnic Albanian journalist was shot and killed in Kosovo on the evening of Sunday, September 10. It is currently unclear whether Shefki Popova’s death related to his journalism.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by your government’s apparent efforts to shut down the independent newspapers SolDat and Vremya Po for reprinting articles from foreign media about alleged corruption in the Kazakh government.