Europe - Central Asia

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kyrgyz authorities to make public the findings of their investigation into the murder of Alisher Saipov, the editor of the Uzbek-language newspaper Siyosat, who was shot in Osh two years ago. Continued impunity in the killing, which occurred in early evening in the city’s downtown district, has fostered fear among his colleagues and...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) is very concerned about the consequences that the European Union’s adoption of the so-called Telecoms Package will have for bloggers and other Internet users. “This Telecoms Package undermines the right to equal Internet access,” said RSF, which last month joined more than 80 organisations from 15 EU member countries in signing an open letter voicing concern. “The...

A TV crew from the Moscow-based independent broadcaster REN-TV was recently attacked and threatened in the North Caucasian republic of Ingushetia that caused them to flee the region, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. REN-TV journalist Leonid Kanfer and cameraman Victor Muzalevsky were threatened and their driver was beaten on Wednesday, the Moscow-based...

A Russian court has dismissed a libel action brought against the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta by the grandson of Josef Stalin, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Yevgeny Dzhugashvili had claimed that an article carried in a supplement of the newspaper on 22 April 2009 describing Stalin as a bloody dictator personally responsible for the execution of Soviet citizens and thousands...

Two libel suits have been brought in rapid succession against the Moscow-based independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta by Joseph Stalin’s grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Dzhugashvili is demanding 10 million roubles (229,000 euros) in damages from Novaya Gazeta and journalist Anatoly Yablokov for an article published on...

Essential issues were again left unaddressed at the 11th hearing on October 12 in the trial of the newspaper editor Hrant Dink’s alleged killers before an Istanbul court. A Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, Dink was gunned down outside his newspaper in Istanbul on January 19, 2007. “In hearing after hearing, the same fundamental questions remain, including the existence of a political will at...

One year ago, a court in the western autonomous region of Karakalpakstan sentenced journalist Solidzhon Abdurakhmanov to 10 years in prison on a charge of “possession of drugs for the purpose of sale,” a sentence that was upheld a month later by the supreme court despite the inconsistencies of the prosecution case and complete lack of evidence against him. Now aged 59, Abdurakhmanov has been held...

Prison sentences were given to journalists at the Azeri weekly newspaper Nota on defamation charges Thursday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Nota Editor-in-Chief Sardar Alibeili and reporter Faramaz Novruzoglu (also known as Faramaz Allahverdiyev) were given three-month prison terms, and staffer Ramiz Tagiyev was conditionally sentenced to six months of...

A Ljubljana appeal court has decided to lift an injunction against the Slovenian daily Dnevnik that barred it since August 2009 from publishing any news or negative comments about the person or professional activities of Italian businessman Pierpaolo Cerani, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The daily’s editor Ali Zerdin told the Paris-based RSF that the ruling on October 7 was “an...

Journalist Aylin Duruoglu has spent nearly six months in Istanbul’s Bakirköy prison on unfounded charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation. The Istanbul prosecutor’s office requested a 15-year jail sentence for Duruoglu when she appeared in court on October 1, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu was accused of belonging to an armed group called the Revolutionary...