Faces of impunity across the world
CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index lists the top 12 countries where the murderers of journalists go free. But impunity knows no borders. The mosaic below shows the faces of slain journalists around the world. Beneath each journalist’s photo is the location of their death. Click the images for more details about these unsolved cases. (Photo grid by Geoff McGhee)
Belarusian journalist Pavel Padabed sentenced to 4 years in prison
New York, June 30, 2023—In response to a Belarusian court sentencing journalist Pavel Padabed to four years in prison on Friday, June 30, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “The sentencing of Belarusian journalist Pavel Padabed to four years’ imprisonment after a hasty two-day trial is a travesty of justice,” said Gulnoza…
‘Not just statistics’: Ukrainska Pravda editor Sevgil Musaieva on the risks and challenges of covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Twice a day, Sevgil Musaieva, chief editor at Kyiv-based independent news site Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth), checks in with her staff, now scattered around the country for security reasons as they report amid Russian missile and rocket attacks. Musaieva knows the high stakes involved in reporting the truth. Two of the outlet’s journalists were killed in retaliation for…
Doubts over investigation plague Pavel Sheremet trial as Ukraine journalists cite continued fear
The trial of three people charged for the 2016 killing of Pavel Sheremet is set to begin before year’s end, but friends and colleagues of the journalist wonder if the right people are facing justice. It has been more than four years and two months since a powerful car bomb killed journalist Pavel Sheremet in…
Belarusian journalist to go on trial
Kiev, July 6, 2018–Belarusian authorities should immediately release journalist Dzmitry Halko and drop all the charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Halko, also known as Dmitry Galko, is scheduled to be tried by a Minsk court on July 10 on charges of assaulting a police officer at his Minsk apartment last…
‘I don’t feel safe now’: Journalists in Ukraine anxious after Babchenko operation
In the week since the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, staged the assassination of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, little if any dust stirred up by the elaborate and controversial operation–ostensibly carried out to foil a Russian plot to kill him–has settled.
UPDATE: Russian journalist Babchenko’s assassination was staged
New York, May 30, 2018– Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who had been reported shot and killed in the Ukrainian capital yesterday, has appeared alive at a televised news conference in Kiev. Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, said the agency faked Babchenko’s death to catch those who were trying to kill him. “We…
CPJ and rights groups call on President Poroshenko to prioritize Pavel Sheremet murder case
CPJ today joined seven other media rights organizations– all part of the Council of Europe’s Platform to protect journalism and promote the safety of journalists–in signing a joint letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The letter calls on the president to ensure an effective investigation into the murder of Pavel Sheremet, the prominent journalist murdered…
Ukraine police see journalism as motive in Pavel Sheremet’s murder
New York, February 8, 2017–Ukrainian investigators’ announcement today that they consider Pavel Sheremet’s journalism as the most likely motive in his July 2016 murder is a welcome step toward bringing his killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told journalists in Kiev that police believe Sheremet, who…