22 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
A criminal case has been filed against the photographer and documentary film maker Umida Akhmedova in Uzbekistan for “slander” and “insult”. Akhmedova is incriminated for her involvement in “Women and men: from dawn till dusk” photo album, produced in 2007. The album consists of 110 pictures, reflecting lifestyle in Uzbekistan and according to the Tashkent public prosecutor’s office “is the insult and slander of Uzbek people”. It is unclear which photo is implicated but the charges could mean she faces six months in jail. Read more here
22 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
A Kyrgyz opposition journalist, Gennady Pavlyuk has died in Kazakhstan today, nearly a week after he was thrown out of sixth-floor window with his hands and feet bound. He had been in a coma since the 16 December incident and died without regaining consciousness. Pavlyuk was a leading critic of Kyrgyzstan’s President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and officials in both countries said a criminal investigation had been opened. Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly come under attack for human rights violations after a series of deaths or beatings of opposition journalists in the country. Read more here
21 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Cihan Hayirsevener, the editor of a local newspaper in the northwestern Turkish city of Bandirma has been shot dead. The shooting follows threats made against him over his coverage of a corruption scandal. The 53-year-old was walking to the newspaper’s office shortly on Friday when he was shot in the leg three times by an unidentified assailant, the Anatolia news agency reported. One of the bullets ruptured a vital artery and he later died in hospital. Read more here
21 Dec 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Burma’s highest court has provisionally agreed to review the most recent extension of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest. Suu Kyi’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court last month after a lower court upheld a decision to sentence her to 18 more months of house arrest. The legal team argued that her house arrest extension was unlawful. Suu Kyi’s current sentence ensures she cannot participate in Burma”s first elections in two decades that are scheduled for next year. Read more here
