Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Palestinian journalist Sameh al-Titi arrested by Israeli authorities, held without charge
- At least 250 journalists jailed worldwide for fourth straight year
- China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt are world's worst jailers of journalists
- US-Nigerian Sahara Reporters website reports assets frozen amid surveillance, censorship
- Syrian Kurdish journalist Himbervan Kousa arrested at Kuala Lumpur airport
- One journalist killed, another missing amid protests in Iraq
- Unprecedented government control of media in Hungary
- Duterte threatens to shut down Philippine broadcaster ABS-CBN
- CPJ to release annual list of journalists imprisoned worldwide
Reporter Without Borders
- Pakistani man shoots ex-wife for working as journalist
- Iraq : Another Iraqi journalist killed, third since start of protests
- Police close radio station, detain radio technician in northern DRC
- Press freedom violations recounted in real time January 2019
- Young Laotian blogger gets five years in prison
- German Constitutional Court hearing on journalists’ and RSF’s complaint against the BND law
- Albanian authorities pursue highly problematic media laws despite public outcry
- RSF warns against the selection of journalists in Hong Kong

OPC Expresses Outrage at the Murder of Khadzhimurad Kamalov
H.E. Dmitri Medvedev
President
Russian Federation
Fax: (011.7.495) 206.6277/ 5173
H.E. Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister
Russian Federation
Fax: (011.7.495) 206.4622, 205.4219
Your Excellencies:
We write to add the Overseas Press Club of America to the many outraged voices denouncing the murder of Khadzhimurad Kamalov, founder of the independent weekly, Chernovik, in Makhachkala.
Ironically, the date of Kamalov’s killing was a day designated as a memorial tribute to the many journalists who have been killed in Russia because of their work in the past 20 years.
Kamalov, one of the best known and most courageous journalists in the Caucasus region, was shot 14 times by a masked assailant as he stepped through the door of Chernovik’s offices just before midnight on December 15. He made many enemies by exposing official corruption, enforced disappearances and abuse by police and soldiers. His name was on an anonymously circulated list of journalists and human rights activists designated “accomplices of the rebels” and targeted for killing “to avenge the death of policemen.”
We are gratified that the local authorities swiftly began an investigation of Kamalov’s murder, proceeding on a presumption that Kamalov’s murder was connected to his work. Bearing in mind the impunity that so many killers of journalists have enjoyed, we urge the central government to take a hand in the investigation — and also to pursue the unsolved murder on May 8, also in Dagestan, of Yakhya Magomedov, a reporter for the Russian Islamic newspaper, Al-Salam.
We join our colleagues at the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders in warning that these killings undermine freedom and blacken Russia’s reputation.
Respectfully yours,
Larry Martz
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
H.E. Dmitri Medvedev
President
The Kremlin
Moscow
Russian Federation
Fax: (011.7.495) 206.6277/ 5173
H.E. Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister
Government Offices
2 Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya
Moscow
Russian Federation
Fax: (011.7.495) 206.4622, 205.4219
H.E. Sergey V. Lavrov
Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Moscow 121200
Russian Federation
Fax: (011.7.495) 244.3448
H.E. Sergey I. Kislyak
Ambassador of Russia to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Fax: (202) 298.5735
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations
136 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10021
Fax: (212) 628.0252
H.E. John Beyrle
U.S. Ambassador to Russia
Embassy of the United States of America
8 Bolshoy Devyatinskiy
Pereulok
Moscow 121099
Russia
Fax: (011.7.495) 728.5090
Andrey Vitalyevich Vasilyev
Editor-in-Chief
Kommersant Daily
4 Vrubelya Street
Moscow, Russia
kommersant@kommersant.ru
Aleksey K. Simonov
President
Glasnost Defense Foundation
4 Zubovskiy Boulevard, # 432
Moscow 119021
Russia
Fax: (011.7.495) 637.4947
Andrew McChesney
Editor-in-Chief
The Moscow Times
Ul. Polkovaya, 3, build. 1
Moscow 127018
Russia
mcchesney@imedia.ru
Maria Otero
Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20520