Yugoslavia: Opposition TV station raided
New York, March 7, 2000 — After a pre-dawn raid in which two employees were injured and transmission equipment stolen, the opposition station Studio B Television faced concerted legal harassment last night in Belgrade. At approximately 3 a.m. local time, five men wearing Serbian police uniforms forced their way into the Torlak broadcasting center, assaulted…
China: Jailed software entrepreneur was secretly freed last September
New York, March 6, 2000 — CPJ has confirmed the early release of Lin Hai, the Shanghai software entrepreneur who was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment on subversion charges in January 1999, for providing 30,000 e-mail addresses to VIP Reference, a pro-democracy online magazine. Lin was quietly released on September 23, 1999, six months ahead…
Philippines: Catholic radio station bombed in Mindanao
New York, March 3, 2000–CPJ is investigating the February 27 bomb attack against the Catholic radio station dxMS, in Cotabato City, on the island of Mindanao. A bomb reportedly exploded outside the building housing the station just after 8:00 p.m., during the broadcast of the daily program “Radio Kalimudan.” Cotabato City police said the bomb’s…
Russia: Photographer feared dead in Chechnya
New York, February 29, 2000—CPJ is investigating reports that a Russian photographer kidnapped by Chechen rebels has been murdered. ITAR-TASS news agency photographer Vladimir Yatsina, 51, had been missing since July 19, 1999, following his arrival in the Ingushetian border town of Nazran. According to reports, he was then kidnapped and taken to Chechnya. At…
Russia: Babitsky released
Read an interview with Radio Free Europe official Paul A. Goble on the Babitsky case New York, February 29, 2000—War correspondent Andrei Babitsky was freed early today in Moscow, having been flown there from Dagestan without the knowledge of his wife or attorney. The Radio Free Europe correspondent had been missing since January 27, when…
Mexico: U.S. authorities arrest two men linked to publisher’s murder
New York, Feb. 28, 2000–Federal agents in Yuma, Arizona, have arrested two brothers charged in the 1997 murder of Mexican newspaper publisher Benjamín Flores González. According to The Arizona Daily Star, Ismael and Gabriel González Gutiérrez were arrested on drug trafficking charges on February 24, following their indictment in Phoenix on February 9. The murder…
México: EEUU arresta a dos hombres vinculados a muerte de editor mexicano
Nueva York, 28 de febrero de 2000 – Agentes federales en Yuma, Arizona, arrestaron a dos hermanos acusados en el asesinato en 1997 de Benjamín Flores González, editor del periódico mexicano La Prensa. Según The Arizona Daily Star, Ismael y Gabriel González Gutiérrez fueron arrestados por acusaciones de narcotráfico el 24 de febrero, después de…
Peru: Regime uses debts to stifle independent media
New York, Feb. 25, 2000—In a letter sent to President Alberto K. Fujimori on Wednesday, CPJ expressed deep concern about the court-ordered confiscation of broadcast equipment used by the independent station Radio 1160. Ostensibly, the equipment was seized in compensation for an old debt. But according to CPJ’s sources, the real purpose of the February…
Four journalists arrested, charged with espionage
New York, February 22 — Police in Monrovia yesterday arrested four journalists from Liberia’s The News and charged them with espionage, apparently in reprisal for a February 21 story that challenged government spending on helicopter repairs, Christmas cards, and souvenirs. The page one story questioned the government’s allocation of US$50,000 for helicopter repairs, and drew…
Colombia: Journalist remains in captivity
New York, Feb. 15, 2000—CPJ is deeply concerned about the safety of Guillermo Cortés, editorial director of “Hora Cero,” a nightly television news program broadcast on Canal A in Bogotá, who was kidnapped on January 22 and remains missing. While no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, new evidence points to the Revolutionary Armed…