Legal Action

Stockholm, July 14, 2022 – In response to a Belarus court’s sentencing of journalist Yury Hantsarevich to two years and six months in prison on an extremism charge Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for authorities not to contest his appeal. “Sentenced today for taking photographs, Yury Hantsarevich is merely…

Paris, July 13, 2022 — In response to a Belarusian court’s conviction Wednesday of journalist Katsiaryna Andreyeva on treason charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement condemning the decision. “By convicting journalist Katsiaryna Andreyeva on ludicrous treason charges only a few months before the end of her first prison term, Belarusian authorities…

New York, July 5, 2022 – Belarus authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Katsiaryna Andreyeva and stop prosecuting members of the press over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On July 4, Andreyeva’s trial on treason charges started behind closed doors in the southeastern city of Homel, according to a Facebook post by…

New York, June 30, 2022 — The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Cuban authorities to refrain from sentencing freelance journalist Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca to prison, to drop all charges against him, and to release the journalist, who has been held for more than a year in pretrial detention. In a closed-door hearing…

Around 3 p.m. on June 10, 2022, the Nicaraguan interior ministry summoned María Alicia Talavera, the director of independent news outlet Trinchera de la Noticia, to a meeting to inform her that the Nicaraguan judiciary had canceled the outlet’s legal status and would be seizing all assets, according to a report by Spanish news agency…

Istanbul, June 30, 2022 – In response to news reports that a Turkish court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on Thursday found photojournalist Abdurrahman Gök guilty of making terrorist propaganda, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “Turkish authorities must not fight the appeal of photojournalist Abdurrahman Gök, and should…

Paris, June 28, 2022 — Russian legislators should not pass a new bill to expand the country’s regulations concerning so-called “foreign agents,” and should let the press operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. The country’s current foreign agent legislation requires the Ministry of Justice to prove that a person or organization has…

On June 7, 2022, police in the Bangladesh town of Rangamati, in the southeastern Chittagong division, arrested Fazle Alahi, editor of the privately owned newspaper Dainik Parbatto and the privately owned news website Pahar24, under the Digital Security Act, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone. A Rangamati magistrate…

Lusaka, June 23, 2022 – Zimbabwean police must immediately and thoroughly investigate threats made to journalist Simbarashe Sithole in retaliation for his corruption reporting and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  On June 4, Zimbabwean Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe sent a text message to…

Paris, June 23, 2022 – Russian legislators should not enact newly proposed legislation that threatens to further restrict the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On June 14, the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s legislature, passed a bill amending the country’s criminal code to impose prison terms for vague actions against…