Attacked

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...

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...

The office of Uthayan, a Tamil-language daily, in Jaffna was hit with an explosive device around 11 p.m. on March 24, 2009. Most Sri Lankan media reports identified the weapon as a hand grenade. It was the fifth time in three years that the office had been attacked, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. There were no injures to the small number of staff still working at the...

Two individuals, who identified themselves as members of the far-right paramilitary group United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), shot Colombian journalist Gustavo Adolfo Valencia Ayala inside his home in the eastern city of Popayán on March 16, 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local news reports. The journalist, who was injured but is in stable condition...

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...

Amid Thailand's continuing political chaos, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has strongly condemned the assassination attempt against media owner, television commentator, and political activist Sondhi Limthongkul on Friday and called on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government to ensure a quick investigation. According to local and international news reports, at around 5:30 a.m...

Two photographers reported being shot at by bodyguards outside the home of Brazilian supermodel Giselle Bündchen in the western Costa Rican city of Santa Teresa de Cóbano on the afternoon of April 4, 2009, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local and international news reports. No one was injured. Yuri Cortez, a Salvadoran photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

On April 2, 2009, a professional mixed-martial arts fighter and boxer was charged with assaulting a food critic for the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York. Police are investigating whether the assault was a premeditated attack in retaliation for a critical review of an area restaurant the year before. The professional fighter, Jerry Spiegel, was arraigned on two counts of misdemeanour...

Russian authorities should thoroughly investigate the March 12 beating of Maksim Zolotarev, an editor at the independent newspaper Molva Yuzhnoye Podmoskovye in the town of Serpukhov, Moscow Region, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Zolotarev told Radio Svoboda—the Russian Service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty—that three unidentified men in hooded jackets...