Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
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- Pakistani journalist arrested for critical Twitter posts
- Mexico denies entry to at least 2 journalists covering migrant caravan
- Russia investigates reporter, seizes property over allegations of "justifying terrorism"
- CPJ holds presser outside White House, calls on Trump administration to reveal its findings on Khashoggi murder
- #JusticeForJamal campaign culminates with call for administration to respond to Senate inquiry
- Ugandan authorities arrest BBC journalists investigating black market drug sales
- CPJ calls on Jammu and Kashmir police to drop charges against journalist
- Two radio journalists shot and killed in northern Afghanistan
Reporter Without Borders
- Nigerian election campaign “polluted” by disinformation
- Ghana: Investigation into journalist’s murder has stalled
- Turkey: Resolution on ineffective domestic legal remedy for journalists
- Call for Kashmiri journalist’s release after spurious charges
- At least 79 journalists arrested in two months of protests in Sudan
- Newspaper editor Igor Rudnikov finally goes on trial in Saint Petersburg
- Philippine website editor held on defamation charge
- Thai TV channel suspended for 15 days in major blow to pluralism
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