New York, January 6, 2000—The trial of Sunday Standard journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto has been deferred to July 2000. At a hearing in Harare yesterday, the magistrate remanded the two until July 7, pending the outcome of their constitutional challenge to the legislation under which they were charged. Military officers arrested and illegally…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ ) is greatly alarmed by a December 27 grenade attack near the offices of the independent weekly Elet es Irodalom in Budapest. The newspaper’s editors suspect the attack came in reprisal for its recent court victory in a libel suit that Your Excellency and Fidesz, the main governing party, filed against it in October.
December 30, New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison today of Joseph Mbakulu Pambu Diana, a Congolese broadcast journalist who had been in jail since 1998 for allegedly collaborating with rebel forces during their occupation of the town of Matadi. In early August 1998, rebels from the Congolese Rally…
New York, December 21, 1999 — Cuban state security officers today released four journalists arrested last Thursday afternoon, according to information received by CPJ. The journalists were apparently arrested to prevent them covering an anti-government demonstration scheduled for last Friday in Havana. Sources in Cuba reported that Juan González Febles, Adela Soto Alvarez, María del…
New York, December 21, 1999 — Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso signed a bill yesterday eliminating two of the country’s “gag laws,” which have been used to stifle press freedom. Moscoso described the gag laws as a “sword of Damocles hanging over the media in Panama” and pledged to work for the elimination of the other…
New York, December 21, 1999 — Two Sri Lankan broadcast journalists were among 22 people killed in an assassination attempt against President Chandrika Kumaratunga at an election rally on Saturday, December 18. Five other journalists were injured by the blast, which also injured Kumaratunga and scores of onlookers. According to reports, a suicide bomber detonated…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by the criminal prosecution of broadcast journalist Zdenek Zukal for allegedly making false accusations against public officials. If he is found guilty on all three charges filed against him, Zukal could be jailed for up to nine years.
New York, December 17, 1999 — CPJ has learned that Cuban state security officers arrested four journalists yesterday afternoon and placed six more under house arrest this morning in an apparent attempt to prevent them from covering an anti-government demonstration scheduled to take place today in Havana. Sources in Cuba report that Juan González Febles,…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly concerned by the Azerbaijani parliament’s December 9 adoption of a new media law that severely restricts press freedom in your country. Although the new law formally forbids censorship, it outlines several provisions that limit the internationally-recognized right of journalists to practice their profession. The legislation: