CPJ concerned about investigation into journalist’s murder
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the investigation into the October 9 murder of Aleksei Sidorov, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Tolyattinskoye Obozreniye. We believe that investigators have prematurely determined that the crime was unrelated to Sidorov’s journalistic work.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF INDEPENDENT DAILY MURDERED
New York, October 10, 2003—Aleksei Sidorov, the editor-in-chief of the independent daily Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye, was murdered yesterday in Togliatti, a city situated on the Volga River 600 miles (960 kilometers) east of Moscow. Sidorov is the second editor-in-chief of Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye to be murdered in the last 18 months. His predecessor, Valery Ivanov, was shot…
Two journalists die in car accident while on assignment
New York, October 7, 2003—CPJ mourns the loss of a television crew and their driver from the national state broadcaster Channel One, who died in a car accident in the Siberian region of Tyumen while on assignment. Channel One journalist Natalia Astafyeva, cameraman Sergei Isakov, and driver Yuri Selyanov died on Saturday when their car…
Federal court upholds journalist’s conviction
New York, October 7, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disappointed that the Kalininsky District Court, in the city of Chelyabinsk, today upheld journalist German Galkin’s conviction on criminal defamation charges and sentence of one year in a labor camp. On August 15, Galkin was convicted of criminal defamation following a trial that…
Constitutional Court to examine restrictive media and election laws
New York, September 26, 2003—The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has decided to hold a hearing on October 13 examining the constitutionality of legal amendments that recently strengthened state regulation over independent media outlets, particularly their coverage of election campaigns. The independent Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy and the reformist Union of Right Forces…
Journalists Killed in Russia 2000-2003
Vladimir Yatsina, ITAR-TASS, February 20, 2000, Chechnya Yatsina, a photographer with the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, was killed in Chechnya by Chechen militants who had taken him hostage. Two former hostages, Alisher Orazaliyev from Kazakhstan, and Kirill Perchenko from Moscow, reported the killing in statements recorded by Amnesty International after their release at the end…
Investigators search office of news Web site
New York, September 24, 2003—Investigators from the Moscow Prosecutor General’s Office searched the office of the Moscow-based independent news Web site Grani.ru on Friday, September 19. Investigators said they wanted an original copy of an anonymous e-mail that Grani.ru had received on August 18 containing a video recording of two prosecutors working for the pro-Russian…
Journalist convicted of criminal defamation up for appeal
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is extremely concerned that German Galkin, publisher of Rabochaya Gazeta and deputy chief editor of Vecherny Chelyabinsk, both opposition newspapers, was convicted on criminal defamation charges. We are writing ahead of his appeal hearing, scheduled for tomorrow, to urge you to take measures to ensure that Russian journalists are not prosecuted under outdated press laws.
Supreme Court rejects journalist’s appeal to review conviction
New York, September 5, 2003—Russia’s Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal by Russian journalist Grigory Pasko challenging his December 2001 criminal conviction for treason. Ivan Pavlov, Pasko’s attorney, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that he received a letter on Thursday, September 4, from the Supreme Court’s deputy chairman, Anatoli Merkushov, informing…
Journalist convicted and imprisoned on criminal defamation charges
New York, August 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns a district court’s conviction of independent journalist German Galkin on criminal defamation charges in the southern city of Chelyabinsk in Russia’s Ural mountains. According to local and international press reports, on August 15, following a trial that was closed to the public, the…