Europe & Central Asia

  
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers a speech during the celebrations of the 62nd anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, in Budapest, Hungary, on October 23, 2018. Hungarian authorities brought criminal charges against a prominent investigative journalist on October 18. (Reuters/Bernadett Szabo)

Hungarian authorities bring criminal charges against prominent investigative journalist

Berlin, November 7, 2018–Hungarian authorities should immediately drop criminal charges against prominent investigative reporter András Dezső and allow him to work without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Germany should use UN Security Council role to promote press freedom

CPJ calls on Chancellor Angela Merkel to use Germany’s position on the U.N. Security Council to prioritize press freedom and the safety of journalists. The country should extend its legacy of speaking up when journalists are under attack.

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CPJ calls on UN to investigate murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi consulate

CPJ calls on U.N. Secretary General António Guterres to request that the United Nations launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

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A view of Istanbul's Bosphorus Bridge, taken in August 2018. A Turkish court this week ordered the chief editor of Çağdaş Ses to be detained pending the outcome of her trial. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 26, 2018

Journalist freed pending trial An Istanbul court on October 31, ordered Ali Sönmez Kayar, a reporter for the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), to be freed pending trial, the independent news website Bianet reported. Kayar, who is charged with “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,” was released under judicial control and is under a…

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Yevgenia Albats, editor-in-chief of The New Times, speaks at the Women of the World Summit in New York City in April 2018. A Russian court has ordered her news outlet to pay a fine of 22.3 million rubles. (AFP/Angela Weiss)

Russia uses ‘foreign agents’ law to hit independent outlet with massive fine

New York, October 29, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an exorbitant fine imposed on the independent news outlet The New Times. A Moscow court on October 26 ordered the outlet to pay 22.3 million rubles (US$338,000) for failing to provide financial information under Russia’s “foreign agents” law and ordered the outlet’s editor-in-chief Yevgenia…

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A tribute to victims of an April 2018 suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, that killed at least nine journalists. (AP/Rahmat Gul)

Getting Away with Murder

CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Impunity is entrenched in 14 nations, according to CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index, which ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses members of Turkey's parliament in Ankara on October 16, 2018. A court convicted three journalists of insulting the president in the pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem. (AFP/Adem Altan)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of October 18

Court sentences journalists over Özgür Gündem campaignAn Istanbul court on October 24 sentenced three journalists to jail for “insulting the president” in the now shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem, the daily Evrensel reported.

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The path(s) to justice in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

In an emotional address to Turkey’s parliament today, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a savage and premeditated act and demanded that Saudi officials be brought to Turkey to stand trial. Most of the information about the investigation that has emerged has come through leaks to the Turkish…

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A memorial in Valletta for investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered in Malta last year. (CPJ)

Efforts to find mastermind in murder of Malta journalist Caruana Galizia stalled

Journalists don’t typically get murdered in Western European democracies that are members of the European Union. Which is why the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta last year was so shocking, and the lack of progress on finding the mastermind so disturbing.

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A funeral wreath, severed goat's head, and threatening notes are left at the Moscow offices of Novaya Gazeta. (Novaya Gazeta/Anna Artemyeva)

Russia’s Novaya Gazeta is sent funeral wreath and goat’s head in latest threats

Kiev, October 18, 2018–Russian authorities should thoroughly investigate threats made against Russia’s independent newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A funeral wreath, a severed goat’s head, and threatening notes were sent to the newspaper’s Moscow office this week in what the paper said in an…

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