Europe & Central Asia

  

Journalist Nurgeldi Halykov barred from leaving Turkmenistan

New York, January 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Turkmen authorities’ decision to place a travel ban on Nurgeldi Halykov, a freelance correspondent for the independent Netherlands-based news website Turkmen.news, who was released from prison in June 2024 after serving a four-year sentence on retaliatory charges. On January 12, border guards at Ashgabat International…

Read More ›

Cars drive near headquarters of the Federal Security Service in Moscow, Russia July 1, 2013. Picture taken July 1, 2013. (Photo: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Russia labels news outlets ‘terrorist organizations’ for the first time

Berlin, January 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Russian authorities to stop persecuting the regional news site Komi Daily and the independent media outlet Asians of Russia, which the Federal Security Service (FSB) added to its list of “terrorist organizations.” This marks the first time media publications have been labeled as such in Russia, according…

Read More ›

Ahmad Ibrohim

Tajik journalist Ahmad Ibrohim sentenced to 10 years in prison

New York, January 13, 2025—A court in Tajikistan’s southern city of Kulob on January 10 sentenced Ahmad Ibrohim, chief editor of the independent weekly newspaper Payk, to 10 years in prison on charges of bribery, extortion, and extremism. The closed-door trial was held in the city’s pretrial detention center, with authorities reportedly classifying the case…

Read More ›

VPNs, training, and mental health workshops: How CPJ helped journalist safety in 2024

Haitian journalist Jean Marc Jean was covering an anti-government protest in Port-au-Prince in February 2024 when he was struck in the face by a gas canister fired by police into the crowd. One of at least five journalists injured while covering civil unrest in the country that month, Jean arrived at the hospital with a…

Read More ›

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested by Iran on December 19, 2024, but her arrest was only made public on December 27. (Screenshot: France 24/YouTube)

CPJ, RSF, IJF call for release of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala

Editor’s note: Cecilia Sala was freed on January 8, 2025. Press freedom organizations and the organizers of the International Journalism Festival (IJF) called on Iran on Tuesday to release Italian journalist Cecilia Sala with immediate effect. Sala was arrested in Iran on December 19 and is being held in the notorious Evin prison. Iran confirmed…

Read More ›

Turkey jails 7 journalists and media workers, places 1 under house arrest

Istanbul, December 23, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Turkish authorities to release journalists who were jailed in Istanbul on Sunday and allow the media to report freely. On Saturday, Turkish authorities detained several dozen people, including journalists, at a protest against the December 20 killing of Kurdish journalists Jihan Belkin and Nazim Dashdan, who…

Read More ›

CPJ urges Ukraine president to halt media intimidation, allow journalists to work freely

The Committee to Protect Journalists, in a letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on December 19, 2024, asked him to ensure that journalists and media outlets can work freely in Ukraine and that no one responsible for intimidating journalists goes unpunished, following a year marked by several incidents of pressure, intimidation, and surveillance, as well…

Read More ›

The new charges against Nikalayevich are believed to be related to his coverage of the 2020 Minsk protests calling for President Aleksandr Lukashenko (pictured here in February 2024) to resign. (Photo: Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)

Belarusian court sentences journalist Yauhen Nikalayevich to 1½ years 

New York, December 19, 2024—A Belarusian court convicted journalist Yauhen Nikalayevich of “organizing or participating in gross violations of public order” and sentenced him to 1½ years imprisonment on October 3 in the southwestern city of Pinsk. The sentence length was only made public on December 19 after a court upheld his conviction earlier this…

Read More ›

Temirov Live’s director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy (right) and presenter Azamat Ishenbekov.

Kyrgyzstan court upholds convictions of 4 anti-corruption journalists

New York, December 18, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Kyrgyzstan court’s decision upholding convictions against four journalists from anti-corruption investigative outlet Temirov Live, two of whom were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. On Wednesday, the Bishkek City Court upheld an October 10 first instance court decision sentencing Makhabat Tajibek kyzy to six years in prison, Azamat Ishenbekov to five years…

Read More ›

Abzas Media's Mahammad Kekalov, (left) Sevinj Vagifgizi, Elnara Gasimova, Ulvi Hasanli, Hafiz Babali, and Nargiz Absalamova.

7 Azerbaijani journalists with anti-corruption outlet, RFE/RL go on trial 

New York, December 17, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijani authorities to drop charges against six members of the anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media and freelance journalist Farid Mehralizada, with U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Azerbaijani service, as a trial began Tuesday in the Serious Crimes Court of the capital, Baku. “The…

Read More ›