Harsh punishment would not fix Russian impunity
Every second crime committed in Russia goes unsolved, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, addressing a conference of the nation’s high-ranking Interior Ministry officials. “The low crime-detection rate and impunity for the criminals do not serve justice but undermine public trust in law enforcement agencies, as well as the state per se,” Putin said, according to…
In Russia, brazen murder of Chernovik founder is unsolved
Gadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of the independent daily Chernovik, was murdered in Makhachkala, capital of Russia’s southern republic of Dagestan, on December 15, 2011. The slaying was brazen, coming on the national Day of Remembrance for journalists killed in the course of their work. The late-evening assault took place outside Chernovik’s newsroom, located on Makhachkala’s Magomed…
Journalists still murdered where impunity reigns
Almost half of the 67 journalists killed worldwide in 2012 were targeted and murdered for their work, research by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. The vast majority covered politics. Many also reported on war, human rights, and crime. In almost half of these cases, political groups are the suspected source of fire. There has…
Russia still far from solving Politkovskaya murder
New York, December 17, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for a retrial of a key defendant in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. The defendant, a former senior police official, was sentenced Friday in a deal that Politkovskaya’s family and colleagues fear will not ultimately identify the crime’s true masterminds. Moscow City Court wrapped…
News anchor shot dead in Russia’s North Caucasus
New York, December 6, 2012–Authorities should immediately investigate Wednesday’s murder of a journalist in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Two unidentified men shot Kazbek Gekkiyev, 28, in the head three times while he was returning home from work with his friend at…
Speak Justice campaign fights impunity in press murders
The tortured and decapitated body of 39-year-old María Elizabeth Macías Castro was found on a Saturday evening in September 2011. It had been dumped by the side of a road in Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican border town ravaged by the war on drugs. Macías, a freelance journalist, wrote about organized crime on social media under…
Twenty-three days to take action against impunity
Approximately 30 journalists are targeted and murdered every year, and on average, in only three of these crimes are the killers ever brought to justice. Other attacks on freedom of expression occur daily: bloggers are threatened, photographers beaten, writers kidnapped. And in those instances, justice is even more rare. Today, the Committee to Protect Journalists…