Corruption and Crime

Kyrgyz authorities have been urged to detain, charge, and prosecute three men who attacked Yrysbek Omurzakov, editor of the independent newspaper Tribuna, in the capital, Bishkek, last week. On May 7, at around 5 p.m., two sedans blocked Omurzakov's marked press vehicle at an intersection near his office, the editor told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Omurzakov said he...

There has been a wave of lawsuits against independent Iraqi news media in recent weeks. Three daily newspapers and a TV station have so far been sued for defamation by senior government officials over reports about corruption, according to Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “These attacks on independent Iraqi media run counter to the progress towards democracy which the entire nation has...

On the evening of April 12, Raphael Ramírez, editor of the national daily La Prensa, received two anonymous calls at his home in La Paz from an individual who threatened to kill him if he "did not stop publishing lies," Carlos Morales, the daily's director, has told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The following morning, an unidentified individual called Morales' home...

Authorities in Rostov-on-Don must launch a criminal investigation into a possible attack on the editor-in-chief of an independent newspaper who was found unconscious with a head wound in the early morning of April 30, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, editor of Korruptsiya i Prestupnost (Corruption and Crime), was found at the foot of a staircase in...

Santa María El Oro Mayor Martín Silvestre Herrera denied any connection to Sunday's murder of local journalist Carlos Ortega Samper in the northern Durango state, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting Mexican press reports. Unidentified assailants shot and killed Ortega near his house in Santa María El Oro , 320 km (200 miles) north of the state capital, on Sunday...

A Mexican journalist who was critical of local authorities in the northern state of Durango was fatally shot by unidentified assailants on Sunday. In a piece published a day before the killing, the reporter wrote that he had been threatened by local government officials. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on local and federal authorities to thoroughly and expeditiously...

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Armenian authorities to apprehend three assailants who attacked Argishti Kivirian, editor of the independent news website Armenia Today. The unidentified men beat Kivirian early Thursday morning, leaving him hospitalised in serious condition, Zhanna Alexanian, president of the Yerevan-based organization Journalists for Human Rights, told CPJ. "We...

José Luis Ortega Vidal, 42, editorial director of the daily Notisur in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz was severely injured after falling off a staircase on the morning of March 3, 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. He was attempting to flee from a former official who was threatening him and other journalists with a gun, according to witnesses quoted in local news...

Veteran Colombian radio journalist José Everardo Aguilar, known for his harsh criticism of local corruption, was gunned down inside his home in southwestern Cauca province on Friday night, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Around 7:15 p.m. on Friday, an unidentified individual posing as a delivery man entered Aguilar's home, saying he had a package of photos, according to...

On March 28, 2009, several gunshots were fired at the home of Juan Antonio Zavala Hernández, publisher of the weekly newspaper Mi Ciudad in the town of Romita in central Guanajuato state, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. There were no injuries, the journalist told CPJ. Zavala, who said he has been repeatedly threatened by the local mayor, said he believes the attack was in...