KNB

In a reply to CPJ's protest letter regarding the politicized imprisonment of journalist Igor Vinyavsky, Kazakhstan's General Prosecutor's Office said the prosecution wasn't retaliatory nor related to his journalism. CPJ publicly appealed to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev after his country's security service, the KNB, raided Vinyavsky's newsroom and apartment, confiscated reporting equipment, and imprisoned the journalist for two months. The KNB also harassed and interrogated Vinyavsky's family and local journalists who protested against his incarceration.

Igor Vinyavsky, editor of the independent weekly Vzglyad, was freed from a Kazakhstan prison on March 15, 2012, on the orders of an Almaty court, according to news reports. The journalist had spent two months in pretrial detention after being arrested by the KNB, Kazakhstan's security service, news reports said.

New York, February 29, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Kyrgyzstan to drop politically motivated extremism charges against independent journalist Vladimir Farafonov.

New York, February 2, 2012--The Kazakh security service, or KNB, must immediately cease intimidating Oksana Makushina, deputy editor of Golos Respubliki, and return reporting equipment confiscated today from the independent weekly, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

New York, January 26, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's court ruling against Igor Vinyavsky, editor of the independent weekly Vzglyad, and calls for his immediate release.