Legal Action

Golden Maunganidze, the editor of the privately owned weekly, The Masvingo Mirror, accused of defaming ZANU PF Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke, was freed by the courts after the state declined to prosecute him on February 24. The State said there was no evidence warranting prosecution. Maunganidze was arrested on February 23 in the southern town of Masvingo on allegations of...

Harare Magistrate Don Ndirowei removed from remand and granted an application for referral to the Supreme Court submitted by The Standard journalists Nevanji Madanhire and Nqobani Ndlovu after the state failed to oppose the application on February 28. Madanhire, who is the editor of The Standard, and Ndlovu, a reporter for the paper, are being charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law...

José Cadena, owner of the weekly El Vocero in the Amazonian province of Sucumbíos, in northeastern Ecuador, is facing a lawsuit filed before the Prosecutor's Office by the local prefect, Orlando Grefa, who has accused the newspaper of damaging his image and his honour after it published allegations made against him by Vice-Prefect Oswaldo Calvopiña. Cadena told Fundamedios that the lawsuit was...

Gustavo Azócar, a journalist based in the western Venezuelan state of Táchira who has been prosecuted with varying degrees of success in the past, appeared on February 7 before a Táchira court again on a charge of libelling an army officer in 2004, when one of his jobs was correspondent for the national daily El Universal. A new hearing has been set for March 15, according to Paris-based press...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has joined the Union of Journalists in Tajikistan (TUJ) and the National Association of Independent Media in Tajikistan (NANSMIT) in condemning the prosecution of the independent weekly Asia-Plus, undertaken by the head of the Organised Crime Control Department (UBOP), Anvar Tagaimurodov, in violation of international and Tajik law...

Two newspaper journalists based in the eastern city of Port Sudan have been accused of trying to overthrow the constitution, a charge punishable by hanging, just for raising the possibility of eastern Sudan’s secession in an article, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The press freedom organization calls on the judicial authorities to see reason. It is...

The Kiev administrative supreme court on Wednesday decided to uphold a lower court’s decision to withdraw the over-the-air broadcast frequencies that were assigned to two privately-owned TV stations, TVi and 5 Kanal, in January 2010, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The lower court’s decision was issued on June 8, 2010 in response to a complaint by...

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a lawsuit against writer Ahmet Altan and Taraf newspaper. According to IPS Communication Foundation (BIANET), the prime minister recently launched a case against the Beyoglu Troupe of Actors and prior to that, against writers Ataol Behramoglu and Oktay Eksi. Erdogan is now claiming TL50,000 (€ 25,000) in compensation from Altan and Taraf, on...

Hungary's newly-instituted media council (NMHH) took over an inquiry into Tilos radio station launched in September, according to a letter from the council on the station's website. The inquiry relates to the station's broadcast of two songs by American rapper Ice-T in its 17:30 programme. According to the letter from the NMHH, the songs' lyrics were objectionable, and violated sections 5/B. (3)...

The LambdaIstanbul Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Solidarity Association has protested against a fine issued by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) to the HabertUrk television station after the station broadcast a discussion on homosexuality. The members of the association called on RTUK president Davut Dursun to apologise for putting forward that the programme on the subject...