Europe - Central Asia

The death of Gen Edvard Fere, a potential key witness in the investigation into the disappearance and murder of online journalist Georgy Gongadze in 2000, has dealt a blow to the case. Fere died on Monday in hospital after six years in a coma without ever being questioned by the police. Gen Fere, who fell into a coma after suffering a heart attack in 2003, acted as chief of staff for President...

Elena Maglevannaya, a Russian journalist who was recently ordered to pay a fine of 200,000 roubles (4,500 euros) and to publicly retract her articles about the torture of a Chechen detainee, has asked for political asylum in Finland, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. She filed her asylum request while in Helsinki to attend a civic forum organised by the Finnish human rights group...

A Paris appeal court has ruled that the latest issue of the monthly magazine Choc can go back on sale only if a photograph of murder victim Ilan Halimi on the cover and inside pages is blacked out, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Halimi’s alleged murderers are currently on trial. The ruling was the result of Choc’s appeal against a court order issued at the request of Halimi’s family...

The European Federation of Journalist (EFJ) has protested against proposals for the draft legislation in Finland which would compel journalists to reveal their sources in certain criminal cases. "This bill is unbelievable. Protection of sources is a cornerstone of independent journalism and the free flow of information. Journalists have to be certain that media freedom is secured and journalists'...

A Baku court has rejected a request for the release of Mushfig Huseynov, a reporter with the daily Bizim Yol, who has had serious health problems since he was jailed in January 2008 for allegedly taking a bribe. “Huseynov’s state of health is grounds for immediate release,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “The law requires it. Prison conditions in Azerbaijan are appalling and do...

A hand grenade attack was carried out on opposition television station Maestro TV in the early hours of Monday in Tbilisi as the political debate programme “Camera 5” was being broadcast live. The explosion damaged the entrance and blew out windows but caused no injuries, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “Any use of such methods to intimidate news media is deplorable and...

Journalists have launched a Europewide campaign to confront a growing economic and professional crisis in media which they say threatens to weaken democracy across the region. The annual meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), bringing together leaders of unions and associations from 25 European countries, ended their meeting in Varna, Bulgaria on May 17 with the adoption of a...

A district court judge in Baku has sentenced Nazim Guliyev, an editor and the founder of the pro-government newspaper Ideal, to six months in prison on defamation charges, the Azeri Press Agency (APA) reported. Guliyev was jailed immediately. Judge Elman Akhmedov imposed the sentence on Wednesday, although the accuser, Sabira Makhmudova, said she wanted to withdraw her complaint, APA reported...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned journalist Elena Maglevannaya’s conviction by a court in the southern city of Volgograd of defaming the prison service in articles about torture in Russian prisons that she wrote for the website Vestnikcivitas. Some of the articles were about the case of Zubayr Zubayrayev, a young Chechen imprisoned in Volgograd. In a May 13 ruling, the court found...

Turkish journalist Aylin Duruoglu is being detained without justification, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Duruoglu, who edits the liberal daily Vatan’s website, gazetevatan.com, was picked up during a wave of arrests of suspected members of an outlawed armed organisation on April 27. “Duruoglu’s detention is unquestionably arbitrary," RSF said. “She has been wrongly...