Europe & Central Asia

  
Reports
Flowers cover the coffin of Mexican journalist Jorge Celestino Ruiz Vazquez, who was killed in Veracruz in August. Ruiz is one of at least five journalists murdered in retaliation for their work in Mexico in 2019. (Reuters/Oscar Martinez)

Number of journalists killed falls sharply as reprisal murders hit record low

As wars subsided and a record low number of journalists were murdered in reprisal for reporting, the total number of journalists killed because of their work fell sharply in 2019. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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Alerts
Russian blogger Yegor Zhukov is seen in Moscow on December 6, 2019. That day, a Moscow court sentenced him to a three-year suspended sentence on charges of “inciting extremism directed against the Russian state." (AFP/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Russian blogger Yegor Zhukov handed suspended sentence for 2017 protest coverage

Vilnius, Lithuania, December 12, 2019 — Russian authorities should not contest the appeal of journalist Yegor Zhukov and should allow him to work without fear of prosecution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Reports
A June 5, 2019, photo shows a "media interview area" for reporters set up near the Idkah mosque on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, when Muslims around the world celebrate the end of Ramadan, in Kashgar, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. China was the world’s leading jailer of journalists in 2019, with at least 48 in prison. (AFP/Greg Baker)

China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt are world’s worst jailers of journalists

For the fourth consecutive year, at least 250 journalists are imprisoned globally as authoritarians like Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi show no signs of letting up on the critical media. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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Features & Analysis
Semiha Şahin, an editor at ETHA, is in legal limbo after Turkish authorities failed to fully implement the terms of her house arrest. (ETHA)

‘I could be jailed at any moment’: Turkish editor in limbo over terms of prison release

If somebody is legally under house arrest but in practice not, are they free? Semiha Şahin, an editor at the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), confronts this question—and the legal ambiguity that it poses—every day. A Turkish court released the journalist under house arrest in June, pending the outcome of her trial, but authorities have…

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Features & Analysis
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, right, gestures as he walks past journalists after talks in Warsaw, Poland, in September 2017. A joint mission to Hungary in November 2019 found that the government has pursued a strategy to silence the country's press. (AP/Alik Keplicz)

Hungary’s media control unprecedented in EU, joint mission finds

Since 2010, the Hungarian government has achieved a degree of media control unprecedented in an EU member state, seven international organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement released today. The organizations urged the EU “to take all available measures to respond.”

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Features & Analysis
Protesters hold up placards and pictures of the murdered Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia as they gather outside the prime minister's office in Valletta, Malta, on November 20, 2019. CPJ and other press freedom groups are reiterating their call for an independent investigation into the journalist's killing. (AFP/Matthew Mirabelli)

Malta must avoid political interference in Caruana Galizia investigation

CPJ and nine other international press freedom organizations today released a joint statement reiterating that the investigation into the assassination of Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia must be independent and free from political interference.

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Alerts
A police car is seen in Rome, Italy, on July 31, 2019. Police are investigating recent attacks against journalist Mario De Michele. (AP/Paolo Santalucia)

Italian journalist Mario De Michele survives shooting attempt

Berlin, November 18, 2019 — Italian authorities must conduct a transparent and thorough investigation into the attempted shooting of journalist Mario De Michele and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Features & Analysis
Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, is seen in Moscow on April 17, 2019. The State Duma recently passed legislation that would add individual journalists and bloggers to the country’s list of “foreign agents.” (Reuters/Sputnik/Alexander Astafyev)

CPJ joins call for Russian government to drop foreign agent bill

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined nine other international press freedom organizations in signing a statement urging Russia to drop draft legislation that would add individual journalists and bloggers to the country’s list of “foreign agents.”

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Features & Analysis
Friends and family members of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia carry a banner calling for "Truth and Justice" in the investigation into her murder, in Valletta, Malta, on October 16, 2019. Her family and the Maltese government recently reached an agreement on the nature of the investigation. (Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

CPJ joins statement welcoming changes in inquiry of Daphne Caruana Galizia killing

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined eight other international press freedom organizations today in a statement welcoming an announcement that the Maltese government and the family of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have agreed on the membership of the board appointed to investigate the circumstances of Caruana Galizia’s 2017 killing, and on the investigation’s scope.

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Alerts
President Donald Trump walks toward the Oval Office after posing for photographers with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on November 13. Turkey detained at least six journalists in the same week as Erdoğan's visit to the U.S. (AP/Evan Vucci)

As Erdoğan visits Trump, Turkey jails more journalists

Istanbul, November 14, 2019—Turkey must end its harassment of the press and stop jailing journalists simply for doing their job, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In the past week, Turkish authorities have jailed at least three journalists, and detained three others overnight, according to reports.

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