Committee to Protect Journalists - Czech Republic

CPJ Impact

2009-05-08T14:44:49Z

April 2009

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

Attacks on the Press 2004: Europe and Central Asia Analysis

2005-03-14T16:54:00Z

Overview
by Alex Lupis

Authoriatarian rulers strengthened their hold on power in many former Soviet republics in 2004. Their secretive, centralized governments aggressively suppressed all forms of independent activity, from journalism and human rights monitoring to religious activism and political opposition.

Editor of independent weekly attacked

2004-01-20T17:00:00Z

New York, January 20, 2004--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns this weekend's attack on Tomas Nemecek, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Respekt, which is based in the Czech Republic's capital, Prague.

On Saturday, January 17, two unidentified men in their early 20s assaulted Nemecek while he was leaving a grocery store near his home in Prague. The men sprayed tear gas in Nemecek's face, threw him to the ground, and repeatedly kicked him in the head and chest, according to local press reports.

Diplomat convicted for conspiring to murder journalist

2003-07-01T16:00:00Z

New York, July 1, 2003--A Czech court yesterday convicted the former general secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Karel Srba, of plotting to murder Sabina Slonkova, an investigative reporter for the independent Prague daily Mlada Fronta Dnes.

According to local and international press reports, a regional court in the southern city of Ceske Budejovice convicted Srba of illegal possession of weapons and conspiring to blow up Slonkova with plastic explosives. Srba was sentenced to eight years in a maximum-security prison, the CTK news agency reported.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Czech Republic

2003-03-31T17:08:05Z

Despite having joined NATO in 1999 and being a front-runner for European Union membership in 2004, many senior politicians in the Czech Republic remain hostile toward the country's feisty press and regularly obstruct critical media coverage of political scandals.

Attacks on the Press 2002: The Hague

2003-03-31T17:06:30Z

December 11

Jonathan C. Randal, The Washington Post

The U.N. International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY) ruled to limit compelled testimony from war correspondents. The decision, announced at the tribunal's Appeals Chamber, came in response to the appeal by former Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal, who had been subpoenaed to testify in the case of former Bosnian-Serb housing minister Radoslav Brdjanin, who is facing charges of genocide because of his alleged role in the persecution and expulsion of more than 100,000 non-Serbs during the Bosnian war. The subpoena against Randal was set aside, and he is no longer required to testify.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Kyrgystan

2003-03-31T17:05:15Z

Emboldened by the growing number of U.S. troops in the country, President Askar Akayev has used the threat of international terrorism as an excuse to curb political dissent and suppress the independent and opposition media in Kyrgyzstan. Compliant courts often issue exorbitant damage awards in politically motivated libel suits, driving even the country's most prominent newspapers to the brink of bankruptcy.

Attacks on the Press 2002: Slovenia

2003-03-31T17:02:20Z

Press freedom is generally respected in Slovenia, but journalists investigating sensitive issues continue to face occasional intimidation or pressure in retaliation for their coverage.

Attacks on the Press 2002: United Kingdom

2003-03-31T17:00:45Z

Press freedom is generally respected in the United Kingdom, but CPJ was alarmed by a legal case in which Interbrew, a Belgium-based brewing group, and the British Financial Services Authority (FSA), a banking and investment watchdog agency, demanded that several U.K. media outlets turn over documents that had been leaked to them. The case threatened to erode the media's ability to protect sources, and to deter whistle-blowers from talking with the press.

Intelligence official confirms Iraqi threat against RFE/RL

2003-03-26T17:00:00Z

New York, March 26, 2003--A senior Czech intelligence official alleged today that Iraqi agents planned to carry out an attack against the Prague-based headquarters of U.S. governmentfunded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

Jiri Ruzek, director of the State Security Service (BIS), told the Czech Service of the BBC in an interview today that the purpose of the attacks was to terminate the broadcasts of Radio Free Iraq, RFE/RL's Arabic-language service broadcasting news into Iraq.

CPJ backs investigation of plot to murder journalist

2002-07-25T16:00:00Z

New York, July 25, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by news reports that Czech investigative reporter Sabina Slonkova was the target of a murder plot allegedly planned by Karel Srba, the former general secretary of the Czech Foreign Ministry.

Srba was arrested on July 19--in addition to three others who were arrested on July 18--on suspicion of planning to kill the journalist, according to Czech and international sources.

Attacks on the Press 2001: Europe & Central Asia

2002-03-26T17:11:50Z

The exhilarating prospect of broad press freedoms that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago has faded dramatically in much of the post-communist world. A considerable decline in press freedom conditions in Russia during the last year, along with the stranglehold authoritarian leaders have imposed on media in Central Asia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova, has put journalists on the defensive across the region.

Attacks on the Press 2001: Czech Republic

2002-03-26T17:08:35Z

Despite the Czech Republic's status as a leading candidate to join the European Union, local journalists continue to face significant risks for criticizing politicians and government policies, while political interference in the media inhibits the expansion of press freedom.

CPJ denounces threat by prime minister to bankrupt independent weekly

2001-10-24T16:00:00Z

New York, October 24, 2001--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has denounced Prime Minister Milos Zeman for threatening to bankrupt the independent Prague-based weekly Respekt with a series of debilitating lawsuits in retaliation for its criticism of his government.

Zeman announced on October 22 that his government was planning to file the suits against Respekt and its editor-in-chief, Petr Holub, after he wrote an article calling the ruling Social Democrat (CSSD) government corrupt, CTK news agency reported.

Attacks on the Press 2000: Europe & Central Asia Analysis

2001-03-19T17:10:25Z

POLITICAL REFORMS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, along with the advent of democratic governments in Croatia and Serbia, brightened the security prospects for journalists in Central Europe and the Balkans. In contrast, Russian's new government imposed press restrictions, and authoritarian regimes entrenched themselves in other countries of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Central Asia, further threatening the independent press.

CPJ confirmed that in 2000, five journalists were killed as a result of their reporting in Europe and Central Asia. In Russia, two journalists were killed in Chechnya, and one in Moscow. (CPJ could not confirm the motives for the killings of four other journalists in Russia during the year.) In Ukraine, the disappearance and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze highlighted the extreme vulnerability of independent journalists in that country. And in a rare Western European case, a Spanish journalist was killed in response to his coverage of the Basque separatist group ETA.