Russia / Europe & Central Asia

  
CPJ
A fighter regains his footing, but his voice is stilled. (CPJ/Nina Ognianova)

Beketov back on his feet, and a long road awaits

Mikhail Beketov can walk now–using an artificial leg and propping himself on crutches. He’s moving around his house in the Moscow suburb of Khimki. It was here, in his front yard, where the newspaper editor was attacked two years and seven months ago. It was in this yard where assailants left him for dead. The…

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The IFEX conference in Beirut put a focus on impunity in journalist murders. (Lidija Sabados/IFEX)

November 23 becomes International Day to End Impunity

Members from around the world of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange met in Beirut last week. On the second day of our conference, amid discussions of the daily problems journalists face, we received word of the abduction and murder of Pakistani investigative journalist Saleem Shahzad. A day later, the conference buzzed with news of…

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This image of Anna Politkovskaya and two men on trial for her murder on a map where she was killed was shown in a court in Moscow in 2008. The men were acquitted. (Reuters/Denis Sinyakov)

Suspected gunman indicted in Anna Politkovskaya’s murder

New York, June 2, 2011–Rustam Makhmudov, the suspected gunman in the 2006 murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, was indicted in Moscow today, according to Russian press reports. The charges follow Makhmudov’s arrest in Chechnya on Tuesday. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed these developments and called on investigators to continue their efforts to solve the killing.

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Russian journalist deported from Belarus

New York, June 1, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the deportation of Rodion Marinichev, a special correspondent for the Moscow-based online broadcaster Dozhd (The Rain), from Belarus, and the ban on his reentry into the country. CPJ calls upon Belarusian authorities to remove their sanctions against the journalist.

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Getting Away With Murder

CPJ’s 2011 Impunity Index spotlights countrieswhere journalists are slain and killers go free

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Alleged Politkovskaya killer arrested

New York, May 31, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes news reports of the arrest in Chechnya today of Rustam Makhmudov, the alleged gunman suspected of murdering prominent journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow in 2006.

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Dagestan court acquits Chernovik journalists

New York, May 19, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s court ruling in the southern republic of Dagestan, which acquitted Editor Nadira Isayeva and four reporters with the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik of long-standing, politicized extremism charges. 

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Demonstrators hold signs for jailed journalist Irina Khalip and her son. (Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin)

Trial of Irina Khalip begins in Belarus

New York, May 12, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for the Belarusian government to drop all charges against Irina Khalip, the Minsk-based correspondent for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who has been imprisoned since December. 

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Online news agency cautiously thrives in Russia

Russian journalists know that garnering the attention of authorities can be dangerous. When writing about topics like crime and corruption, it can also be easy. However, Gregory Shvedov, editor of online news agency Kavkazsky Uzel, (Caucasian Knot), isn’t worried about the Kremlin knocking on his door.

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Anastasiya Baburova (Novaya Gazeta)

Two sentenced in Baburova murder in Russia

New York, May 6, 2011–The conviction and sentencing of two defendants in the 2009 double murder of freelance journalist Anastasiya Baburova and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov is a landmark victory in the fight against impunity in press killings in Russia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Moscow City Court Judge Aleksandr Zamashnyuk gave defendant…

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