Russia and impunity

7 journalists have been slain in direct relation to their work since 2000.  14 other journalists have been murdered in unclear circumstances since 2000.16th worldwide in number of journalists murdered.14 percent of journalist murders have ended in convictions.10th worldwide in CPJ’s Impunity Index, which calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of the population. The higher a nation’s ranking, the greater the…

In Azerbaijan, an editor is jailed after investigating the unsolved murder of a colleague. The case has opened a window into widespread abuses in this tightly controlled nation on the Caspian Sea.

The conflict in Georgia is making headlines this morning with The Georgian Times Web site running a news brief on press casualties that quotes our alert from yesterday. RFE/RL also has a story online that quotes our coverage of the death of three journalists and the disappearance of two others in South Ossetia. The Web…

New York, August 11, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of radio commentator Dennis Cuesta, who died in a General Santos City hospital on Saturday after gunmen shot him near his office on August 4. Local press freedom groups told CPJ that they believe his murder was related to his work.

New York, May 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by continuing attacks on Agil Khalil, a reporter with the Azerbaijani opposition daily Azadlyg (Freedom). On Wednesday afternoon, at least two unidentified men tried to push Khalil onto the tracks of a Baku subway. Later that same day, two young men tried to kidnap…

Survey documents a high number of unprosecuted killings of journalists in some unexpected places EditorialHouston Chronicle May 5, 2008, 9:56PM The Committee to Protect Journalists is waging a campaign against what Executive Director Joel Simon calls “the ultimate form of censorship,” the murder of those who work for the world’s news media. The group has…

Robert Mahoney Published in the Guardian ‘s Comment is Free blog May 2, 2008 As published in the Guardian ‘s blog In Britain, to silence a bothersome journalist you hire a lawyer. In much of the developing world, you hire an assassin. Killing a reporter in Russia or Mexico costs just a few thousand dollars.…

May 2008 News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

Journalists from Sierra Leone, Russia, and the Philippines describe the failure of justice and the effect on their work.

CPJ’s Impunity Index ranks countries where killers of journalists go free New York, April 30, 2008 — Democracies from Colombia to India and Russia to the Philippines are among the worst countries in the world at prosecuting journalists’ killers according to the Impunity Index, a list of countries compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists…