Court rejects appeal of Internet essayist
New York, August 11, 2004—A Chinese high court today rejected the appeal of Internet essayist Du Daobin, who was convicted in June on charges of subversion. The Supreme People’s Court of Hubei Province in Xiaogan City upheld charges of “overtly instigating and subverting state power,” according to Xinhua state news agency. Today’s ruling upheld a…
Police recapture two men charged in Jean Dominique murder
New York, August 11, 2004—More than seven months after escaping from the Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary, two of the men charged in the April 2000 killing of prominent journalist Jean Léopold Dominique have been recaptured. Dymsley Millien was arrested August 1 in Port-au-Prince, and Jeudi-Jean Daniel was captured August 8 in the southern city of Jacmel,…
CPJ deeply disturbed by contempt ruling in CIA leak case
New York, August 11, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is very concerned by a U.S. federal judge’s ruling to hold a journalist in contempt of court for refusing to testify before the grand jury probing the 2003 leak of a CIA operative’s name. Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan of U.S. District Court in Washington,…
Search warrant revoked in Hong Kong newspaper raid
New York, August 10, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes a Hong Kong court decision today setting aside a search warrant issued in a July 24 raid on the daily newspaper Sing Tao. The newspaper was one of seven raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in a sweeping anti-corruption investigation. Justice Michael…
Imprisoned journalist receives suspended sentence
New York, August 9, 2004—A court in the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, today sentenced Maka Gbossokotto, publication director of the private French language daily Le Citoyen, to a 12-month suspended jail term and a 500,000 CFA franc (US$960) fine for printing “public insults” against businessman Jean-Serge Wafio. Gbossokotto was also charged with defamation, but…
Radio Hosanna employees released, station still shuttered
New York, August 9, 2004—Seven employees of an evangelical radio station that was shuttered last week were freed on Saturday, August 7, without charge. The station, Radio Hosanna, in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Lubumbashi, remains closed. The station has been shut down since August 4, when national intelligence agents and police…
Maoist rebels attack journalists
New York, August 9, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is troubled by the continuing deterioration of press freedom conditions in Nepal, marked by several recent threats and attacks on journalists covering the Maoist rebel insurgency in the western part of the country. On July 31, Maoist rebels abducted a local journalist and human rights…
CPJ CALLS ON PUTIN TO ENSURE EDITORS’ KILLERS ARE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE
New York, August 9, 2004—Saying that Russian authorities “have repeatedly disregarded pertinent evidence and witnesses” in the slayings of two editors of a Togliatti newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on President Vladimir Putin today to “devote the full resources of your office” to bring the true killers to justice.
Documentary filmmaker arrested
New York, August 6, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent arrest of Burmese documentary filmmaker Lazing La Htoi, who was detained on July 27 in Myitkyina, the capital of the northern Kachin State, for filming and distributing footage of extreme flooding that hit the region in late July. La Htoi shot footage…