Fragile Progress: Source notes
A CPJ special report on the struggle for press freedom in the EU 1 Pol Morillas, editor, “Illiberal Democracies in the EU: the Visegrad Group and the Risk of Disintegration,” January 2017 2 CPJ, “Balancing Act,” 2015 https://cpj.org/reports/2015/09/press-freedom-at-risk-europe-summary/ 3 Some sources asked not to be named in this report in order to speak frankly or because they…
Belarus prosecutor requests lengthy prison terms for journalists Raman Pratasevich, Stsypan Putsila, and Yan Rudzik
Paris, April 21, 2023–A Belarusian prosecutor requested a 10-year prison sentence for detained journalist Raman Pratasevich, a 19-year prison sentence in absentia for journalist Yan Rudzik, and a 20-year prison sentence in absentia for journalist Stsypan Putsila during a hearing on Friday, April 21, in Minsk, the capital, news reports said. “The lengthy prison terms…
CPJ welcomes conviction in 1988 murder of Peruvian journalist Hugo Bustíos
Bogotá, April 14, 2023—A Peruvian court on Thursday, April 13, convicted Daniel Urresti—a former presidential candidate, interior minister, and congressman—and sentenced him to 12 years in prison for his role in the 1988 murder of journalist Hugo Bustíos, news reports said. Urresti, 66, a retired army general, was convicted of taking part in an ambush…
DRC authorities detain 2 journalists, threaten another with arrest
Kinshasa, April 14, 2023–Congolese authorities should immediately release journalists Gustave Bakuka and Diègo Kayiba, ensure the safety of journalist Sylvain Kabongo, and drop all legal proceedings and investigations against them connected to their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Around 9 a.m. on Friday, April 14, three Congolese National Intelligence Agency (ANR) agents…
Russian authorities charge journalist Roman Ivanov with ‘fake news,’ raid Prufy.ru office
Paris, April 13, 2023 – Russian authorities should immediately release journalist Roman Ivanov and stop harassing and prosecuting members of the press for their reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Wednesday, April 12, a court in the city of Korolyov ordered Roman Ivanov, a reporter with independent news website RusNews who had…
‘Living in fear’: Exiled Afghan journalists face arrest, hunger in Pakistan
Stuck with no income for more than a year after fleeing Afghanistan for Pakistan, Samiullah Jahesh was ready to sell his kidney to put food on the table for his family. “I had no other option, I had no money or food at home,” Jahesh, a former journalist with Afghanistan’s independent Ariana News TV channel,…
German journalist David Janzen’s home vandalized after reporting on far-right
Berlin, April 5, 2023—German authorities should swiftly and thoroughly investigate the recent harassment of journalist David Janzen and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On March 29, unidentified people painted a message on Janzen’s home in the north-central German city of Braunschweig accusing him of being “anti-German” and left behind a…
Bangladesh authorities open investigation into exiled journalist Abdur Rab Bhuttow, harass family members
On January 11, 2023, the Chawkbazar police station in Bangladesh’s southern Chattogram district opened a Digital Security Act investigation into U.K.-based Bangladeshi journalist Abdur Rab Bhuttow and the privately owned digital news platform London Bangla Channel, where Bhuttow serves as editor, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Police…
Iryna Danylovych
Ukrainian freelance journalist Iryna Danylovych is serving a prison sentence of six years and 11 months after being convicted by a Crimean court of illegally handling explosives. Russian authorities detained in Ukraine’s Crimea her in April 2022. She was initially sentenced to seven years in prison in December 2022, but the term was reduced by…
CPJ calls on Bangladesh authorities to cease harassing staff of Prothom Alo newspaper
New York, March 30, 2023—Bangladesh authorities must immediately drop all investigations into the staff of the Prothom Alo newspaper in retaliation for its work and allow its employees to do their jobs freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. In the early morning of Wednesday, March 29, authorities arrested Prothom Alo correspondent Shamsuzzaman Shams…