Alerts

New York, April 30, 2002—Valery Ivanov, editor of the newspaper Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye in the southern Russian city of Togliatti, was shot dead outside his home last night, CPJ has confirmed.

At approximately 11 p.m. Ivanov, 32, was shot eight times in the head at point-blank range while entering his car, a colleague at the newspaper told CPJ.

Eyewitnesses saw a 25 to 30 year-old man walk up to Ivanov's car and shoot him, according to local press reports and CPJ sources. The killer then fled the scene on foot.

New York, April 29, 2002—CPJ mourns the tragic deaths of three journalists who were killed yesterday morning when their Mi-8 helicopter crashed in the Krasnoyarsk Region of Siberia.

According to press reports, Natalya Pivovarova, of the 7 Channel television company; Igor Gareyev, of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Broadcasting Company; and Konstantin Stepanov, of the newspaper Segodnyashnyaya Gazeta, were traveling with Krasnoyarsk governor Aleksandr Lebed and other regional officials to the opening ceremony of a new downhill ski slope when their aircraft crashed.

Bogotá, April 26, 2002—On April 22 and 23, unidentified men threatened to kill television journalist Daniel Coronell and his 3-year-old daughter.

Coronell, news director of "Noticias Uno," a current affairs program on the Bogotá TV station Canal Uno, received threatening calls on his cellular phone and at his home and office after he aired an investigative report examining possible links between the country's leading presidential candidate and drug traffickers. The journalist reported the threats to police and on Wednesday sent his daughter out of the country with relatives.

New York, April 25, 2002— CPJ today sent a letter of inquiry to Dr. Vishnu Kant Shastri, governor of Uttar Pradesh State, India, requesting information about the April 14 death of journalist Paritosh Pandey.

Pandey, a crime reporter for the Hindi-language daily Jansatta Express, was shot dead at point-blank range at around 10:30 p.m. in his home in the residential neighborhood of Gomtinagar, in Lucknow, according to police. At least six shots were fired at Pandey's head and chest, and it appears he died instantly.

New York, April 25, 2002—CPJ is alarmed that Kenyan attorney general Amos Wako has reintroduced a repressive media bill in Parliament.

The contentious Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill would increase 100-fold the bond publishers must pay to insure against losses they may incur from libel or defamation suits. Currently, publishers must pay 10,000 shillings (US$129) to the Registrar of Societies. Under the new legislation, this bond would rise to 1 million shillings (US$12,863).

April 24, 2002, New York—CPJ deplores the continuing harassment of journalists by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops deployed in the West Bank.

In the most recent incident, the IDF today detained Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, who was CPJ's 2001 International Press Freedom awardee, and Hussam Abu Alan, a photographer for Agence-France Presse (AFP). IDF troops stopped the two journalists at the Beit Einun checkpoint north of Hebron when they tried to reach a nearby village to cover a funeral for Palestinian militants killed by Israeli forces.

New York, April 23, 2002—After two earlier adjournments, the trial of four men charged with the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl resumed this week in Karachi, Pakistan.

The trial, which is being held before a special anti-terrorism court convened at Karachi's Central Jail, remains closed to journalists and to the public.

Pakistani police have accused British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh of masterminding Pearl's kidnapping. The three other defendants—Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem, and Sheikh Mohammed Adeel—were allegedly involved in sending e-mail messages to news organizations announcing Pearl's abduction.

Bogotá, April 19, 2002—The campaign of presidential front-runner Álvaro Uribe Vélez said earlier this week that a radio network in central Colombia was targeted for a deadly April 7 bomb attack because the station had broadcast the candidate's speeches. But network officials denied the claims and said the statements endangered the lives of their staff, CPJ has learned.

Two explosions killed 12 people and shattered the windows of a Radio Súper office in the town of Villavicencio, about 40 miles southeast of the capital, Bogotá.

Bogotá, April 18, 2002--A man being held by authorities in Colombia's capital has confessed to murdering journalist Orlando Sierra, a newspaper editor and columnist who was shot and killed early this year, CPJ has learned.

Luis Fernando Soto told investigators that he shot 42-year-old Sierra, deputy editor of La Patria newspaper, on a whim after passing the journalist on a street and mistaking him for a man who had apparently killed his cousin years ago, said Carolina Sánchez, spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office.