Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 6, 2018
Journalist arrested Authorities in the southeastern city of Mardin on August 8 took Uğur Akgül, a former reporter for the shuttered pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), into custody to serve his prison sentence of two years and six months after a court rejected his appeal, according to the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency. The journalist was…
Belarus police raid independent media offices, detain journalists
Kiev, August 8, 2018–Belarusian authorities should immediately release detained journalists and stop harassing independent media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police raided the Minsk offices of at least three independent Belarusian news outlets and detained at least 17 journalists yesterday and today, accusing them of unlawfully obtaining information from a state news…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 30, 2018
Journalist threatened Hale Gönültaş, a reporter for the news website Gazete Duvar, received a death threat on July 30, three days after the publication of her feature on the Islamic State militant group selling Yezidi women as slaves, her employer reported. Gönültaş’s report stated that at least one Yezidi woman was sold in Ankara, Turkey’s…
Killing of 3 Russian investigative journalists in Central African Republic must be probed
New York, August 1, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Central African Republic, Russia, and the U.N. to investigate the deaths of three Russian journalists killed while on assignment in CAR.
In Belarus, critical blogger Sergey Petrukhin faces new charges
New York, July 31, 2018–Belarusian authorities should end their harassment of independent blogger Sergey Petrukhin and allow him to work without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court today charged Petrukhin with disobedience of an official order, according to the independent Belarusian Association of Journalists.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 23, 2018
Journalist arraigned An Istanbul court on July 19 arraigned Mustafa Gökkılıç, a former reporter for the now-closed liberal daily Radikal, on charges of having ties to the Gülen movement, which the government considers a terrorist organization, according to the state news agency Anatolia.
CPJ calls on EU’s Mogherini to assist scores of journalists trapped in southern Syria
CPJ writes to EU’s Mogherini to request assistance with the protection of scores of journalists who remain in southern Syria at grave risk. The more than 60 journalists are in danger of arrest and torture because of their work.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 16, 2018
Journalists in court An Istanbul court today found Canan Coşkun, a court reporter with the daily Cumhuriyet, guilty of “making targets of those assigned to combat terrorism” and sentenced her to two years and three months in prison, her employer reported. She is not in government custody, the report stated.
Belarus sentences critical journalist to four years in a low-security prison colony
Kiev, July 17, 2018–A Minsk court today found Belarusian journalist Dzmitry Halko guilty of assaulting a police officer, sentenced him to four years’ labor at a low-security prison colony, and ordered him to pay restitution of 850 Belarusian rubles (US$430) to the officer, according to Halko’s wife, Julia Garkusha, and media reports. Halko was released…
