Berlusconi and Belarus’s dictator
Italy’s continued investment in Belarus masks the freedom of expression abuses that plague the country’s media. Cecilia Anesi reports
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Turkish journalists face jail for photographing Colonel
Hürriyet newspaper journalist Nurettin Kurt and editorial manager Hasan Kılıç face between one and three years imprisonment for publishing photographs of Colonel E.Y.B. The photographs were taken during the ongoing investigation into the alleged plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç. Kurt and Kılıç have been charged under Anti-Terror Laws for “identifying officials on anti-terrorist duties as targets of terror organizations”. The court has not yet stated which terror organisations Kurt and Kılıç supposedly identified as targeting the Colonel.
Chinese academic banned from travelling to America
A prominent Chinese professor at the Beijing Film Academy, has been barred from leaving China to travel to America. Cui Weiping was due to give a lecture at Harvard, and attend a conference in Philadelphia. Although authorities at her university have not provided her with a reason for her travel restrictions, Cui has speculated that the refusal is due to posts she made on her blog, and Tweets she made in support of imprisoned writer and activist Liu Xiaobo. To help petition her banning, contact NEAR for more information.
Two journalists killed in Honduras
On 26 March, Bayardo Mairena and Manuel Juárez, were shot in their vehicle by unidentified gunmen, in Olancho, eastern Honduras. Both journalists were working on the news program “This is Olancho”. The double murder means that five journalists have been killed this month in Honduras, none of their killers have been arrested.