Russia

The Russian prosecutor-general's office has completed its investigation into the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya and sent the case to court, Interfax news agency reported Thursday. It was not immediately clear Thursday which court will hear the case. Politkovskaya, an award-winning reporter for the Novaya Gazeta, was one of the strongest critics in the Russian media of the...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over Russia's denial of entry to a British journalist into the country last week. Freelance journalist Simon Pirani had a valid, multiple-entry visa to Russia when he was stopped by border guards at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on June 17. Officials handed him a “declaration of return,” which stated that he could not enter the country...

Roza Malsagova, the editor of the Ingushetiya.ru website, Ingushetia’s only source of independent news and information, has just lost an ally in her struggle against the government’s determination to suppress all coverage of human rights abuses in this southern Russian republic, which adjoins Chechnya and which is contaminated by the region’s conflicts. Magomed Yevloyev, the site’s owner

Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of a Russian opposition Internet site who was shot dead on Sunday, was the latest in a series of Russian journalists to have been killed or to die in suspicious circumstances. Media freedom groups say Russia is one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists and that no one has been prosecuted over most of the deaths. Here are some of the most high-profile...

Russian federal authorities must undertake a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into Sunday’s shocking death of Magomed Yevloyev, owner of the popular news website Ingushetiya, who was killed in the custody of police in Ingushetia, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Yevloyev died from a gunshot wound to the head while being transported by Ingush police following...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan to end their month-long offensive against the opposition weekly Chernovik ("Rough Draft") in the regional capital, Makhachkala. Investigators with the local prosecutor's office and officers with the Criminal Investigation (UR) department of Dagestan's Interior Ministry searched the...

Regional authorities in Dagestan have decided to open a criminal case against Nadira Isayeva, editor-in-chief of an independent weekly, after the newspaper quoted a former guerilla leader in an article. According to news website Lenta, regional prosecutors in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, charged Isayeva with making public calls to extremism and incitement of hatred; if convicted, she faces up...

The editor-in-chief of independent news website Ingushetiya has fled Russia and is seeking asylum in Europe, daily the Moscow Times reported Thursday. Ingushetiya's lawyer, Kaloy Akhilgov, told CPJ that Roza Malsagova left Russia two weeks ago after being harassed, threatened, and beaten by Ingush authorities. She also faces criminal prosecution. Earlier this year, regional prosecutors opened...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Friday's vicious attack on Zurab Tsechoyev, editor of Mashr, a human rights website based in the volatile North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia. At least 50 armed, masked men in camouflage gear raided Tsechoyev's home, shoved him into an armoured personnel carrier, drove him to an unknown location, and interrogated and beat him for five...

Two journalists in Russia's Bashkortostan Republic have been convicted under the country's vague extremism law. Each has been sentenced to serve a suspended two-year prison term. Their newspaper has been shuttered. On June 25, the Kirov District Court in the regional capital of Ufa, in the central Russian Republic of Bashkortostan, convicted and sentenced Viktor Shmakov, editor-in-chief of the...