Yusuf Ruzimuradov
Ruzimuradov, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Erk, is the longest-imprisoned journalist in the world, according to CPJ research. The reporter and Muhammad Bekjanov, Erk’s chief editor, were jailed on politicized anti-state charges after they were forcibly returned to the country from Ukraine in 1999. In September 1999, a Tashkent court convicted the two of…
#FreeThePress: Yusuf Ruzimuradov
Press Uncuffed #FreeThePress Spotlight Medium: Print Charge: Anti-State Imprisoned: March 15, 1999 Yusuf Ruzimuradov Uzbekistan Ruzimuradov, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Erk,is one of the two longest-imprisoned journalists worldwide, CPJ research shows. He was jailed on politicized anti-state charges after extradition from Ukraine. In a September 2014 report on political prisoners in Uzbekistan, the…
Muhammad Bekjanov
Bekjanov, editor of the opposition newspaper Erk, and Ruzimuradov, a reporter for the paper, are the longest-imprisoned journalists worldwide, CPJ research shows. Both journalists were jailed on politicized anti-state charges after they were forcibly returned to the country from Ukraine in 1999. In September 1999, a Tashkent court convicted the two of publishing and distributing…
Uzbekistan releases remaining jailed journalists
New York, May 7, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from custody today of Uzbek journalists Bobomurod Abdullaev and Hayot Nasriddinov, who had been on trial in Tashkent since March 5, 2018. With the pair’s release, there are no journalists behind bars in Uzbekistan for the first time in two decades, according to…
CPJ Highlights: March 2018 edition
CPJ’s global campaign to free the press CPJ believes all journalists should be able to report freely, without any fear of harassment or retaliation. But each day, all over the world, reporters, photographers, editors, and bloggers are imprisoned for their work. In December, CPJ published its annual prison census, which found that at least 262…
Uzbekistan releases world’s longest-jailed journalist, but two more face trial
New York, March 2, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today confirmed that Yusuf Ruzimuradov, the longest-imprisoned journalist worldwide, was freed in Uzbekistan in late February. CPJ called on authorities to take further steps to improve the climate for the media by dropping charges against two independent journalists who are due in court in a separate…
CPJ Highlights: February edition
Press freedom in the US–and what CPJ’s doing about it CPJ continues to advocate for journalists and press freedom in the United States. In a February 25 op-ed published in The New York Times titled “Trump is damaging press freedom in the U.S. and abroad,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon argued that the U.S. administration’s…
CPJ urges Uzbek president to lift media restrictions
January 23, 2017 Shavkat Mirziyoyev President of Uzbekistan Via email: Presidents_office@press-service.uz Dear President Mirziyoyev, A month after your inauguration as Uzbekistan’s second president, we at the Committee to Protect Journalists are writing to urge you to reverse the repressive media policies of your predecessor, the late President Islam Karimov, and to dismantle damaging restrictions on…
Uzbek journalist in solitary confinement after 17 years in prison
New York, December 19, 2016–Uzbek authorities should immediately release editor Muhammad Bekjanov and reporter Yusuf Ruzimuradov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Bekjanov’s relatives today told CPJ that they learned that Bekjanov had been moved to solitary confinement. The two have been imprisoned longer than any other journalists in the world, according to CPJ…