Following a vicious attack in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on a reporter for a pro-opposition weekly, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the Kazakh authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation and to bring the assailants to justice. At least three young men attacked Bakhytzhan Nurpeisov, 19, of the weekly Obshchestvennaya Pozitsiya (Public Position), at around 9 p.m. on...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned a proposed criminal law amendment before Czech Republic parliament that would ban the media from publishing the contents of police telephone taps or any information about the tapping of phones by the police. The proposed amendment provides for sentences of one to five years in prison and fines up to 5 million crowns (182,000 euros) for violators. “In...
The Evening Standard on Wednesday said Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev has bought a controlling 75.1 per cent stake in the venerable but money-losing paper for a "nominal sum" widely reported to be $1.40. After weeks of rumours, Standard owner Daily Mail & General Trust PLC confirmed that a company formed by Lebedev and his 28-year-old son, Evgeny, would acquire 75.1 per cent of London's...
A former military chief of the Basque separatist group ETA, Javier Garcia Gaztelu, was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday for ordering the assassination of a journalist in 2000, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has eported. The National Court found Garcia Gaztelu guilty of "a terrorist crime consisting in an attack against a person resulting in a painful death" and sentenced him to 30 years in...
The shocking murders of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and young journalist Anastasia Barburova on Monday brings Russia's human rights record to a new low, press freedom groups have said. The crime is compounded by the knowledge that Russia has a culture where impunity reigns and murderers are rarely brought to justice, ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship have said. Even in the case of a journalist as...
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed concern at the recent eviction of the Albanian newspaper TemA from its premises by Minister of Economical Affairs Genc Ruli. According to SEEMO, the Minister of Economical Affairs cancelled unilaterally and without any further notice the newspaper's 20-year-old contract for the premises. An unexpected police siege followed and the...
Abdumumin Sherkhonov, editor-in-chief of the Pazhvok (Echo) newspaper and a freelance reporter for Radio Ozodi (Tajik Service of Radio Liberty), was beaten up in the city of Kulyab, southern Tajikistan, on January 5, accordding to delayed reports. According to Sherkhonov, he was stopped by two young men when he was on his way to the newspaper's office. One of them, who identified himself as an...
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has expressed concern at the efforts by the Orthodox Church in the Republic of Macedonia / Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to prevent certain media from properly carrying out their work. According SEEMO, TV Alfa, TV Sitel and the newspaper Vecer have received a notification stating that, as of January 2009, they will need the approval of the...
Several unidentified assailants attacked Yermek Boltai, a reporter and editor for the website of the Kazakh service of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), in Kazakhstan's financial capital of Almaty on Sunday, the broadcaster reported. The assailants reportedly did not take any of the editor's valuables, including his money and cellphone. The attackers hit Boltai...
A human rights lawyer well-known for his work on abuses in Chechnya, Stanislav Markelov, and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova were shot to death Monday in broad daylight by a masked gunman who trailed Markelov from a press conference in Moscow. Markelov had at the January 19 press conference condemned the early release of Yuri Bodanov, a Russian former colonel who was sentenced in 2003...
