Europe - Central Asia

The Tajik Prosecutor-General's Office has charged two men with the murder of the Russian TV reporter, Ilyas Shurpayev, RIA Novosti has reported quoting a law enforcement source. "Masrurdzhon Yatimov and Nadzhmiddin Mukhiddinov have been charged under the provisions of Article 104/2 of the Penal Code of Tajikistan [premeditated murder with aggravating circumstances]," he said. The accused, both...

Russian prosecutors have opened a criminal case into the mysterious death in July 2003 of an investigative journalist and liberal lawmaker, news agency RIA Novosti has reported quoting an investigation committee spokesman on Friday. Yury Shchekochikhin, who reported on high-profile corruption cases, died after a brief and puzzling illness almost five years ago, at the age of 53. A post mortem...

The daily Berliner Zeitung has announced that the overwhelming majority of editorial staff has voted to access their official records at the government's archive, after two senior journalists at the newspaper admitted they were former East German secret police, Stasi, informants. On Monday, the left-leaning paper's 50-year-old political editor admitted to having been a Stasi informant for a decade...

An appeal court in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica Wednesday ordered a new trial with different judges in the murder of Dusko Jovanovic, the owner and editor of the opposition daily Dan, who was gunned down outside his newspaper in Podgorica on May 28, 2004. The original trial ended in December 2006 with the acquittal of the sole defendant, Damic Mandic, a former karate champion and alleged...

Russian journalist Yelena Tregubova, who wrote a book criticizing President Vladimir Putin for abusing freedom of speech, said she's been granted political asylum in the UK, according to Bloomberg News. The former Kremlin correspondent for Russia's Kommersant newspaper, who asked for asylum in London last year, said she's "very pleased'' with the decision in comments broadcast on Ekho Moskvy radio...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Thursday’s attack on Arseny Makhlov, founder of the independent weekly Dvornik, in the western city of Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad region of Russia. An unidentified assailant stabbed Makhlov twice in the back at around 7:00 pm as he was leaving a local restaurant, the journalist told New York-based CPJ. The attacker fled the scene immediately...

Journalists at Le Monde, one of France's most highly respected dailies, went on strike for only the second time in the paper's history Monday in protest at heavy cuts in newsroom staff. Le Monde, read by 2 million people everyday, is one of the country's most influential newspapers with extensive contacts in the French establishment and an unwaveringly intellectual tone. A new management team told...

Tajik police have detained two men suspected of murdering a Russian television reporter who was found stabbed in a Moscow apartment with a belt around his neck, news agencies have reported. The detained men are Tajik nationals, Interior Ministry spokesman Khaidar Makhmadiev said, according to the Associated Press (AP) . He said he could not identify them by name. Interfax and ITAR-Tass news...

Leading newspapers in Slovakia published identical protests on otherwise blank front pages Thursday to condemn legislation that they said would undermine press freedom, news agencies have reported. The six main dailies, including Novy Cas, SME, Pravda, Hospodarske Noviny and Plus Jeden Den, left their front pages empty except for a list of "seven sins" in the legislation, which would require them...

The killer of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya has been identified and placed on the country's 'most wanted' list, news agency RIA-Novosti reported Friday quoting the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office. The journalist, who gained international recognition for her criticism of the Kremlin and reports of atrocities against civilians in the troubled Caucasus republic of Chechnya, was...