Legal Action

New York, June 26, 2024—As the closed-door trial of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich opened in a Russian court on Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists denounced it as a travesty of justice and renewed its call for the journalist’s immediate release. “U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich goes on trial today after nearly 15 months of unjust…

Sulaymaniyah, June 24, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to immediately and unconditionally free Syrian journalist Sleman Ahmed, who has been detained for eight months, and drop all charges against him. Ahmed — an Arabic editor for the local news website RojNews — is due to stand trial before Duhok Criminal…

New York, June 24, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be freed from prison in a plea deal with the United States Justice Department. “Julian Assange faced a prosecution that had grave implications for journalists and press freedom worldwide,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “While we welcome the…

Dakar, June 20, 2024—Nigerien authorities must decriminalize defamation and ensure that the country’s cybercrime law does not unduly restrict the work of the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday. On June 7, Niger’s head of state Abdourahamane Tchiani, who overthrew the democratically elected president in July 2023, reintroduced prison sentences of one…

When Belete Kassa’s friend and news show co-host Belaye Manaye was arrested in November 2023 and taken to the remote Awash Arba military camp known as the “Guantanamo of the desert,” Belete feared that he might be next. The two men co-founded the YouTube-based channel Ethio News in 2020, which had reported extensively on a conflict that…

Update: A Serbian appeals court announced on September 11 that it has sent the extradition case of Belarusian filmmaker Andrey Gnyot for a third review to the Belgrade Higher Court. Gnyot told CPJ on September 12 that he expects the next hearing “will not happen earlier than a month,” saying that “the most dangerous thing” about the…

CPJ, ICFJ and RSF introduced expert legal opinion arguing the Supreme Court of the Philippines should close cyber libel case New York / Paris / Washington D.C., June 18, 2024 — In an effort to deter the legal persecution of trailblazing journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and her former colleague Reynaldo Santos, and to…

New York, June 17, 2024—As a Russian court on Monday set the beginning of the trial of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich for June 26, the Committee to Protect Journalists renewed its call to immediately release him and drop all charges against him. “The start of Gershkovich’s trial comes after he has already spent more than…

Taipei, June 14, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Chinese court’s decision on Friday to sentence journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin to five years in prison on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power.” The Intermediate People’s Court in the southern city of Guangzhou handed down the sentence to Huang, who is well known…

Stockholm, June 13, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Kyrgyz authorities to immediately drop all charges against 11 current and former Temirov Live staff, ahead of an unprecedented trial due to open on Friday, and end the harassment of the independent press. “Even as Kyrgyzstan continues its rapid descent into authoritarianism under President Sadyr Japarov,…