A journalist who went to interview the minister of the Ministry of National Security (MNB) in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on February 20 was blindfolded and interrogated for hours, according to local news reports. The Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) has called for an immediate investigation into the incident by the central Azerbaijani government. Security service agents...
The new media law in Belarus contains several provisions that further deteriorate the media situation in the country. In particular, the law provides for regulation of online media by a governmental decree and re-registration of all the media outlets; it simplifies the procedure of closing down a media outlet and decreases the level of security of journalists and editorial boards, according to
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...
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has condemned amendments to the UK Counter Terrorism Act, which came into force in the UK on February 16. The amendments contain powers of arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of police officers or other public servants which are "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism." "This is a serious setback for...
Hearings in the murder case of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya continue at the Moscow District Military Court. On February 4, the judge announced yet another adjournment of the proceedings, this time because of the sudden loss in court of a DVD featuring video materials that the prosecutor wanted to present as evidence against the defendants, the Glasnost Defence Foundation (GDF)...
Two journalists, the daily Milliyet's Gokcer Tahincioglu and Vatan newspaper's Kemal Goktas, are on trial in Turkey over allegations related to articles revealing the unlawful authorization of security forces, police, the gendarmerie and the national intelligence service to monitor all electronic communication between citizens. Tahincioglu and Goktas are accused of "acquiring classified...
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed deep concern over the attack on private television station TV Alter in Athens, Greece, on February 17. According to SEEMO, around 7:15 p.m., four armed men fired shots and threw a suspected explosive device outside the premises of TV Alter's central offices in Athens. No injuries were reported. The attack happened before the station's...
The Turkish interior minister has announced a new investigation into the role of the security forces in the 2007 murder of journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink, according to delayed reports. Interior minister, Basir Atalay on February 4, following the publication of a report by the prime minister’s services (BTK), ordered the opening of an investigation into the responsibilities and...
A Czech court has upheld a fine against reporter Sabina Slonkova for refusing to disclose the names of confidential sources to the state prosecutor. The case dates to February 2008, when online news portal Aktualne.cz posted video surveillance footage taken at Prague’s Hotel Savoy and leaked to Slonkova. The footage shows a clandestine meeting shortly before last year’s Czech presidential election...
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Russian authorities to immediately investigate a death threat that was sent to a human rights research center. In an email, a neo-Nazi group threatened to murder a number of journalists and intellectuals in the next year, according to the recipient of the threat. The sender told Galina Kozhevnikova, deputy head of the human rights research center...
