Alerts

Remarks Presented Before the Congressional-Executive Committee on China

By Kavita Menon

June 24, 2002


Thank you for inviting the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to participate in this round-table discussion about media freedom in China. CPJ has been monitoring press freedom conditions in China, and around the world, for more than 20 years. The organization was founded in 1981 by a group of American journalists who believed that the strength and influence of the international media could be used to support journalists who are targeted because of their work. CPJ's Board of Directors, who are actively involved in our work, includes such leading American journalists as Tom Brokaw of NBC News, Clarence Page of The Chicago Tribune, and Terry Anderson--who was held hostage for nearly seven years in Lebanon while working as the chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press.

New York, June 24, 2002—Dragoljub Milanovic, the former director of the state broadcaster Radio Television Serbia (RTS), was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for failing to protect 16 RTS employees killed by a NATO missile in April 1999, said Serbian and international press reports.

A Belgrade district court found Milanovic guilty of causing "grave danger to public security" for failing to evacuate employees from the RTS building in Belgrade during NATO air strikes.

New York, June 21, 2002—The Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court is scheduled to hear an appeal on June 25 of imprisoned journalist Grigory Pasko's December 25, 2001 conviction.

Pasko's defense lawyers are seeking his full acquittal and release. According to Russian sources, state prosecutors plan to use the hearing to ask for a harsher sentence.

Pasko was convicted of treason and sentenced to four years in prison in December 2001, based on the charge that he intended to leak classified information to Japanese news outlets about the Russian Pacific Fleet's dumping of nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan.

New York, June 20, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the 28-month prison sentence handed down today in the trial of Zouhair Yahyaoui, editor of the online publication Tunezine.

A Tunis court found Yahyaoui guilty of intentionally publishing false information, a violation of Article 306 of the country's Penal Code. The charge was in response to a number of articles posted on Tunezine, including a recent piece that criticized the May 26 constitutional referendum in which 99.52 percent of voters approved constitutional changes to allow President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to run for a fourth term as president.

New York, June 20, 2002—In a letter sent today to Mario Dupuy, Haiti's Secretary of State for Communications, the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concerns about the government's plan to develop a legally enforceable code of ethics for the press.

In the letter, CPJ asked for more details about the proposed legislation and suggested opening a dialogue to ensure that any law passed does not restrict press freedom in the country.

New York, June 20, 2002—Police in Niger have again arrested Abdoulaye Tiemogo, publisher and editor-in-chief of the satirical weekly Canard Dechaine, on charges of defaming Niger Prime Minister Hama Amadou. This is the third time in eight months that Tiemogo has been arrested for his work.

According to local journalists contacted by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Tiemogo was picked up by armed police officers on June 18 and taken to a pre-trial detention center in the capital, Niamey.