Climate change and press freedom
Last weekend I participated in a conference in Venice, Italy, on climate change and the press. The meeting was hosted by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev under the auspices on the World Political Forum, an organization Gorbachev founded in 2003 to foster discussion on “crucial problems that affect humankind.”
Politkovskaya family lawyer ill, possibly poisoned
New York, October 14, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the welfare of Russian lawyer Karinna Moskalenko, who represents the family of slain Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Moskalenko was the target of an apparent poisoning in Strasbourg, France, days before she was due to appear in a Moscow court for pretrial…
Two years without Anna
I met Anna Politkovskaya in person only once, in 2005. She was in New York to collect yet another journalism award, and stopped by CPJ one October afternoon. I remember her crossing the lobby with an even, determined step. She had an urgency about her–that rare focus that comes only with absolute clarity about one’s…
Two years after Politkovskaya’s murder, three suspects will go to trial
New York, October 6, 2008–Three men will soon go to trial in the October 2006 assassination of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, according to local news reports. Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office approved the indictments on Wednesday, and sent the case to court on Thursday.
CPJ asks Russia to allow journalists’ entry
Dear President Medvedev, The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Russia has recently denied entry to international journalists who have worked in the country regularly. We are especially concerned that Russian authorities have used a law that implies the journalists represent a threat to the country, but gives no explanation as to how.
Beyond the Bulgarian umbrella
“The current situation has made it necessary for the First Main Directorate (PGU) of [Russia’s] KGB to give the First Main Directorate of [Bulgaria’s] Ministry of Internal Affairs the following special means: devices for silent, mechanical ejection of special needles, containing swift poisons. …” The above is an excerpt from Addendum 13 of the “Perspective…
‘South Park’ too extreme for Russia?
Well, that was it for Kenny. Not only does the “South Park” character die (again) in Episode 46 of the popular animated series–“Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics”–he may now be killed altogether from Russian television. On September 3, Moscow prosecutors filed a legal claim against “South Park,” saying the cartoon exhibited “signs of extremist activity.” The…
Polish television crew freed in South Ossetia
New York, September 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s release of Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew members who were detained outside the Georgian village of Karaleti by South Ossetian militia members, and taken into custody in the regional capital, Tskhinvali on Monday. Reporter Dariusz Bohatkiewicz told CPJ that authorities in Tskhinvali transferred him and…
Polish television crew detained in South Ossetia
New York, September 8, 2008—South Ossetian and Russian authorities should immediately release three members of a Polish television crew detained today near the village of Karaleti in the buffer zone between South Ossetia and Georgia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Authorities confiscated equipment and cell phones from the Telewizja Polska (TVP) crew and were…
One journalist killed, another beaten in North Caucasus
New York, September 3, 2008–Authorities must thoroughly investigate the murder in Dagestan of Telman Alishayev, a reporter and host for the Islamic television channel TV-Chirkei, and the severe attack in Kabardino-Balkariya against Miloslav Bitokov, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Gazeta Yuga. Alishayev died today of gunshot wounds sustained in an attack on Tuesday in Dagestan’s…