Environmental journalist Grigory Pasko receives international passport
New York, August 4, 2004—After weeks of delays, Russian officials have approved a passport for environmental journalist Grigory Pasko, whose prior reporting on the dumping of nuclear waste had drawn the ire of authorities. “I am happy with this development even though authorities had no right to keep my application in limbo for that long,”…
CPJ calls on Putin to end harassment of Chechen newspaper
New York, July 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin to ensure that government officials in the southern republics of Ingushetia and Chechnya end their campaign of harassment against the independent weekly Chechenskoye Obshchestvo (Chechen Society), which is based in Ingushetia’s capital, Nazran. According to Chechenskoye Obshchestvo Editor Timur…
Journalist found dead outside Moscow
New York, July 21, 2004—The body of Armenian journalist Pail Peloian was found on the side of a highway outside Russia’s capital, Moscow, on July 17, according to local and international press reports. Peloian had been severely beaten and stabbed multiple times and had a cracked skull and bruised face. The police found money, documents,…
CPJ calls on Putin to end climate of “lawlessness, impunity” that led to slayings of Klebnikov, other journalists
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on you to address the climate of lawlessness that has led to the slayings of more than a dozen independent journalists in Russia in four years, most recently the July 9 murder of Paul Klebnikov, the 41-year-old editor of the Russian edition of Forbes Magazine.
Forbes editor shot and killed
New York, July 9, 2004 – Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes Magazine, was shot and killed this evening in the capital of Moscow as he left his office, according to local press reports. Klebnikov, an American journalist of Russian descent, was shot four times at about 10 p.m. local time. There…
Director of television channel in Dagestan wounded
New York, June 21, 2004—Tagib Abdusalamov, director of the Dagestani bureau of the Russian state radio and television company GTRK, was shot and wounded on Friday, June 18, by unknown assailants, according to local and international reports. Abdusalamov is in critical condition at the hospital in Dagestan’s capital, Makhachkala. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)…
Court acquits suspects in journalist’s murder for a second time
New York, June 11, 2004—Yesterday the Moscow Military District Court again acquitted the six suspects in the October 1994 murder of Dmitry Kholodov, a popular journalist for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. The trial is the second one in the case. On June 26, 2002, the same court fully acquitted the defendants—former intelligence officers…
Federal Security Services refuse to issue international passport to journalist Pasko
New York, June 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) has failed to approve an application for a foreign passport for journalist Grigory Pasko. It is standard procedure in Russia that the FSB clear applications for foreign passports before they are processed.
LEADING TV NEWS SHOW CANCELED, ANCHOR FIRED
New York, June 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by reports that the popular news program “Namedni” (Recently) on the television channel NTV was canceled under government pressure. Leonid Parfyonov, anchor of the show, was also fired, according to local and international reports. On Sunday, May 30, Parfyonov was scheduled to air…
European Court of Human Rights condemns Russia in media case
New York, May 20, 2004—The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that Russian authorities used a politically motivated criminal investigation in 2000 to try to take over the print and broadcast operations of Russian media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky. The Strasbourg, France–based court said that Russian authorities illegally harassed and arrested Gusinsky on charges of…