Russia / Europe & Central Asia

New York, October 15, 2001—Anna Politkovskaya, a correspondent with Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta known for her investigative reports on human rights abuses committed by the Russian military in Chechnya, fled to Vienna, Austria, last week. Novaya Gazeta’s deputy editor-in-chief, Sergey Sokolov, told CPJ in a telephone interview today that the threats stemmed from a September…

New York, July 10, 2001—Grigory Pasko, the Russian military journalist who faces trial on charges of espionage and revealing state secrets, says he’s ready for the next stage in his battle with the authorities. “It’s time this case was over. It’s been four years—how much longer can this continue?”

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by the recent illegal takeover of the television station TVK in central Russia’s Lipetsk Region. After investigating the circumstances, we believe this was a politically motivated attempt by local governor Oleg Korolyov to control the station ahead of gubernatorial elections scheduled for April 2002.

New York, September 26, 2001— Japanese free-lance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka has now been missing since late July, when he reportedly left Georgia for Chechnya to interview Chechen rebels. Tsuneoka, 32, last communicated with his family via e-mail at the end of July after arriving in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, the Japan Economic Newswire reported. He wrote…

New York, September 24, 2001—Eduard Markevich, editor and publisher of a local newspaper in the town of Reftinskiy, Sverdlovsk Region, was found dead last Tuesday night, according to press reports. He had been shot in the back. Markevich, 29, edited Novyy Reft, a paper that was often critical of local officials. The journalist’s colleagues told…

After the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., defending press freedom has become more important than ever before.

New York, July 27, 2001–Under strict new rules prescribed by the Russian military, journalists covering the ongoing conflict in Chechnya must be accompanied by an official from the press service of the Interior Ministry at all times.

Uzbekistan has one of the strictest censorship regimes in the world, as the author learned when she launched her journalism career in Tashkent.

New York, June 19, 2001 — The espionage trial of Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko has been postponed yet again, according to the Itar-Tass news agency and CPJ sources in Vladivostok. CPJ denounces these delays, which are clearly intended to exhaust Pasko’s legal defense. Military authorities have been pursuing the investigative reporter for nearly four…