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scheduled for tomorrow, to urge you to take measures to ensure that Russian journalists are not prosecuted under outdated press laws.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…
Moscow court upholds denial of travel passport to Grigory Pasko
New York, August 12, 2003—The Moscow City Court upheld an earlier July 24 district court ruling today denying a foreign passport to Russian journalist Grigory Pasko. Ivan Pavlov, Pasko’s attorney, told CPJ in a telephone interview today that Pasko plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Pasko was convicted…
Court rejects journalist’s appeal for travel passport
New York, July 24, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disappointed with today’s ruling by Moscow’s Lyublinsky District Court to uphold Moscow’s Southeastern District Visa and Registration Authorities (OVIR) decision to deny a foreign passport to journalist Grigory Pasko. Pasko was convicted of treason and sentenced to four years in prison on December…
Journalist Grigory Pasko denied travel passport
New York, July 10, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed that Moscow’s southeastern district visa and registration authorities (OVIR) have denied a foreign passport to journalist Grigory Pasko, who was released from prison in January after serving more than two years in prison. Pasko told CPJ in a telephone interview that officials denied…
Agence France-Presse reporter abducted
New York, July 7, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of Ali Astamirov, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency, who was abducted on Friday, July 4, by unknown armed assailants in Ingushetia, according to sources in Russia. Astamirov, who previously worked for Chechnya’s Grozny Television and reported…