Azerbaijan: Independent editor imprisoned

November 2nd, 2011

The editor-in-chief of an independent daily paper in Azerbaijan has been imprisoned. Avaz Zeynally, from newspaper Khural, was arrested in Baku on Friday on charges of bribery and extortion. The charges follow a complaint filed by Gyuler Akhmedova, a member of parliament who alleged that Zeynally had tried to extort 10,000 manat (7,935 GBP) from her in August. Zeynally denies all charges, saying Akhmedova had offered him money in exchange for his paper’s loyalty to authorities. On Saturday, a court determined that Zeynally should be detained for three months. If convicted, he could face 12 years in prison.

Bribery and censorship in Paraguay

July 16th, 2010

The SPP (Paraguayan Union of Journalists) has condemned the recent actions of politicians in the city of Cuidad del Este. Last week Juan Pío Balbuena had his programme cancelled on Radio Corpus after the owner of the station made a ‘business deal’ with local politician Javier Zacarías Irún, in which he agreed not to criticise Zacarías’s political group. Zacarías’ wife, Sandra Mcleod, is mayor of Ciudad del Este and was recently accused of attempting to bribe another Radio Corpus journalist to favour her party on air. He refused and was later forced to resign.