Russia

Russia's Supreme Court has overturned the acquittals of three men accused of involvement in the October 2006 murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya. A spokesman for the court said on Thursday that there were procedural violations during the trial, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. In February, a 12-member jury in Moscow acquitted Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) is pinning its hopes on the appointment of a new judge on June 3 to conduct the investigation into the death of Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of the Ingushetiya.ru (now Ingushetia.org) news website and opponent of former Ingush President Murat Zyazikov. Yevloyev was shot dead while in police custody in Magas, Ingushetia’s new capital, in August 2008. The appointment...

Authorities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan are attempting to shut down the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik and have levelled extremism charges against editor Nadira Isayeva and four reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. On Monday, the local branch of Russia's state media regulator Rossvyazkomnadzor filed a lawsuit against Chernovik in...

Authorities in Rostov-on-Don must launch a criminal investigation into a possible attack on the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper who was found unconscious with a head wound in the early morning of April 30, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, editor of Korruptsiya i Prestupnost (Corruption and Crime), was found at the foot of a staircase in...

Police in the western city of Kaliningrad should drop trumped-up bribery charges against Arseny Makhlov, the founder of the independent weekly Dvornik, and allow him to work without fear of harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Makhlov was arrested and charged on Monday after Dvornik published articles on corruption in the building industry that implicated local...

Russian authorities should thoroughly investigate the March 12 beating of Maksim Zolotarev, an editor at the independent newspaper Molva Yuzhnoye Podmoskovye in the town of Serpukhov, Moscow Region, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Zolotarev told Radio Svoboda—the Russian Service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty—that three unidentified men in hooded jackets...

Vadim Rogozhin, managing director of the independent media holding company Vzglyad in the southern city of Saratov, was hospitalised in serious condition on March 10 after surviving a brutal attack last week, his company said in an official statement, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Two unidentified assailants attacked Rogozhin, 38, as he was leaving an elevator at his...

The Russian prosecutor-general’s office has filed an appeal before the supreme court against the acquittal of three men who were accused in connection with the 2006 murder of Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya. A jury found the three men not guilty on February 19 at the end of a trial before a Moscow military court. “We point out that the Politkovskaya murder has not been solved,” Reporters...

All copies of the February 18 issue of the Moscow-based biweekly Novaya Gazeta that were to have sold in the Moscow satellite town of Khimki were bought up by the local authorities prior to distribution so that the only way for Khimki residents to be able to read its content was to go the newspaper’s website, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The issue included an open letter from a...

Three defendants in the October 2006 murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya walked free out of the Moscow District Military Court Friday after a jury unanimously acquitted them of helping to organise the crime. The state prosecution said it will appeal the verdict, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported. Those acquitted are Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former police...