Europe & Central Asia

  

Belarus: Independent press systematically intimidated

May 25, 2000 His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko President of Belarus Republic Minsk 220020 VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25 Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the continuing pattern of intimidation by federal and local authorities of the independent press in Belarus. Over the past few months, we have monitored many violations of…

Read More ›

Russia: Journalists face violence, harassment for coverage of corruption and Chechnya

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the recent violent attack on Igor Domnikov, a reporter for the twice-weekly paper Novaya Gazeta in Moscow, and by your government’s recent announcement that it plans to interrogate reporters from both Novaya Gazeta and the Moscow daily Kommersant for publishing interviews with Chechen president Aslan Maskhadov.

Read More ›

Azerbaijan: Government cracks down on independent media before elections

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent closure of the Baku-based magazine Monitor Weekly and by your continued refusal to review the legality of the Interior Ministry’s October 1999 takeover of the independent station Sara Radio/TV.

Read More ›

Pulling the Plugs on Liberia

Charles Taylor, the former warlord who rules Liberia, has little tolerance for “anti-patriotic” media

Read More ›

Russia: Raid on Media-Most

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by yesterday’s raid on the head office of Media-Most, the company that owns NTV Television, Ekho Moskvy radio, the daily newspaper Segodnya and the weekly news magazine Itogi.

Read More ›

In Moscow, outrage over raid on Russian media company

Click here to read CPJ’s protest letter to President Putin. Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in RUSSIA

Read More ›

MASKED COMMANDOS RAID MOSCOW MEDIA COMPANY

New York, May 11, 2000 — Up to forty investigators and police commandos raided the Moscow offices of a media company that has often criticized Kremlin policies, according to local and international news reports. While Russian authorities claim the raid was connected to an investigation of so-called economic crimes, company representatives say they are convinced…

Read More ›

Spain: Journalist assassinated in Basque country

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the recent assassination of political columnist José Luis López de la Calle. López de la Calle, a regular contributor to the Basque edition of the Madrid-based daily El Mundo, was gunned down outside his home on Sunday morning, May 7. Though no arrests have been made, Interior Ministry officials are reportedly attributing the crime to the Basque separatist group ETA.

Read More ›

17 journalists beaten at opposition rally

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in AZERBAIJAN. New York, May 4, 2000 – Seventeen journalists were beaten by police while covering an opposition demonstration on April 29 in the capital city of Baku, according to the Journalists’ Trade Union and other sources in Azerbaijan.

Read More ›

Commonwealth: CPJ protests conditions in Sierra Leone, Malaysia

Dear Mr. McKinnon, On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its concerns about press freedom violations in Malaysia and Sierra Leone, which have been Commonwealth member states since 1957 and 1961, respectively. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the leaders of these Commonwealth countries rank among CPJ’s “10 worst enemies of the press” for 2000.

Read More ›