Gongadze murder suspect’s trial should be open to public
New York, August 16, 2011–The Pechersky District Court in Kyiv must open to the public the ongoing trial against Aleksei Pukach, a former interior ministry general charged with the notorious 2000 killing of independent journalist Georgy Gongadze, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today.
Journalist gunned down in Pakistan, another still missing
New York, August 15, 2011–Alarm continues to mount for the safety of Pakistani journalists with the assassination of a reporter on Sunday in restive Baluchistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Also, a senior reporter remains missing in Waziristan, after being abducted on August 11.
Quantifying the threat to journalists in Pakistan
For many journalists working in Pakistan, death threats and menacing messages are simply seen as part of their job. But since December 2010, CPJ’s Journalist Assistance Program (JA) has processed requests for help from 16 journalists in Pakistan who are dealing with threats. Others have told us of threats they have received in the event…
Radio Simba staffer shot outside his studio in Somalia
New York, August 5, 2011–The logistics manager and driver for Radio Simba, Farah Hassan Sahal, died from bullet wounds early Thursday evening just outside the station’s compound in the restive Bakara Market in the capital, Mogadishu, Radio Simba Director Abdullahi Ali Farah told CPJ. Hassan was helping the station move damaged radio equipment when a…
Critical journalist murdered in Dominican Republic
New York, August 3, 2011–The body of José Agustín Silvestre, a critical Dominican journalist who ran a magazine and hosted a television program, was found Tuesday morning shortly after he was seized by gunmen in the southeastern city of La Romana, according to local press reports.
Afghan journalist’s death is a loss for press freedom
Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak covered violent news. His last two stories for Pajhwok Afghan News, before he died on July 28 in a major attack in Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province, were about an attack on police checkpoints in which both Taliban and police were killed, and an interview with a would-be suicide bomber. Few of…
Journalists flee Veracruz as cartels crack down
In the port city of Veracruz, Mexico, reporters are fleeing for their lives or are in hiding, according to Notiver, the city’s principal newspaper, and local reporters. This flight began on Wednesday after the decapitated body of Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz, a police beat reporter for Notiver for nearly three decades, was found near…
Editor’s killing still haunts Turkey
There’s a policeman on duty these days in the lobby of the elegant apartment building that houses Agos and a receptionist behind security glass buzzes you in to the newspaper’s cluttered offices. That’s about the only indication that the outspoken Turkish-Armenian editor whom I interviewed here in Istanbul in 2006 was assassinated outside the front…
Political journalist murdered in Brazil
New York, July 27, 2011–Veteran political reporter Auro Ida was shot and killed on Friday in the city of Cuiabá in the central west state of Mato Grosso, according to the local press. The well-known journalist had served as the city government’s press secretary, was a founder of the news site Midianews, and wrote an…