Europe & Central Asia

New York, June 5, 2026—Russian authorities must immediately release journalist Aleksey Seregin and stop silencing independent voices in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. On June 4, law enforcement officers in Yoshkar-Ola, the capital of Mari El Republic in western Russia, detained Seregin after beating him, confiscating his phone, and searching his…

New York, June 5, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a recent Russian attack in Ukraine that injured Olha Kalinovska, a war correspondent with the privately owned Ukrainian broadcaster Channel 5. “The Russian attack that injured Ukrainian journalist Olha Kalinovska once again highlights the considerable risks journalists face while covering Russia’s war in Ukraine amid the widespread use of…

Berlin, June 5, 2026—A court in Russia’s southern Altai Krai on Wednesday convicted Maria Ponomarenko, an imprisoned correspondent for the independent news outlet RusNews, of using violence against prison staff and sentenced her to an additional 22 months behind bars. The ruling marks the third prison sentence given to Ponomarenko, who has been detained since April 2022…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 15 other press freedom and human rights organizations Thursday in calling on Turkish authorities to release İsmail Arı, a reporter for the leftist daily BirGün, who has been in detention since March 21. His trial will begin in Ankara on June 5. Arı was indicted in mid-May on charges…

Berlin, June 3, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Italian authorities to swiftly complete their investigation into an arson attack targeting journalist Adriano Cappellari, as well as ongoing threats against him, in a thorough and transparent manner and bring all perpetrators to justice. Cappellari, a contributor to the regional daily Il Giornale di Vicenza…

Istanbul, May 20, 2026—Turkish authorities must release journalist Yelis Ayaz without delay and stop punishing journalists for doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Ayaz, publisher and editor-in-chief for the local newspaper Aydınpost in the western province of Aydın, was arrested pending trial by a court on May 15 on suspicion of…

New York, May 19, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists has been included on a Russian government list of “undesirable organizations” — a label used to suppress media outlets, NGOs, and other independent voices that the Kremlin deems a threat to its narrative control. CPJ, which was not notified of the decision or the reasons behind…

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called on the European Commission to scrap reported plans to invite the Taliban to Brussels. According to media reports, the technical talks would focus on the return of rejected asylum seekers and Afghans convicted of crimes. The European Union does not officially recognize the Taliban, and formal engagement…

New York, May 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges U.S. President Donald Trump to do everything possible to secure the release of jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai during his meeting this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Lai, a British citizen and founder of the defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was sentenced to…

On April 11, 1999, Slavko Ćuruvija, the owner of Serbia’s first private daily newspaper, Dnevni Telegraf, was assassinated outside his home in the capital, Belgrade. After a decades-long pursuit of accountability, the case reached a turning point in February 2024 when the Belgrade Court of Appeal issued a final, non-appealable acquittal for four former Slobodan Milošević-era state…