Turkish publisher Ragıp Zarakolu , recipient of the 2008 International Publishers Association (IPA) Freedom to Publish Prize, was arrested on 28 October in Istanbul. Viewed by many as Turkey's most prominent free expression and minority rights...
CATEGORY: Europe and Central Asia

Russia: Chechen human rights case programme “censored”
Elena Vlasenko reports on Russian state-owned television channel NTV’s move to censor a broadcast detailing a campaign for a fair investigation into the kidnapping and alleged torture of Chechen man Islam Umarpashaev
UK: Letter to foreign secretary on cyberspace
As the London Conference on Cyberspace begins, Index on Censorship has joined leading human rights groups and media freedom activists in calling on Foreign Secretary William Hague to reject censorship and surveillance that undermines free expression
Russia: Report on torture of Chechen man “censored” by state television
A 30 October report concerning the work of a Russian human rights group working in Chechnya was pulled off of the air on NTV, one of the nation’s largest federal channels. The segment covering the work of Joint Mobile Group with the case of Islam...

Google: a case for internet regulation?
Myriam Francois-Cerrah looks at the search giant’s latest figures on government take down demands
Campaign success: Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas stop selling government bonds to Belarus
Two more foreign banks halt cooperation with Belarus after German Chancellor Angela Merkel tells Index and Free Belarus Now that she would intervene to stop Deutsche Bank from selling government bonds to Europe’s last dictatorship.
Ukraine: Reporter critical after being shot in the head
A Ukrainian investigative journalist is a critical condition after being shot in the head. Oleksander Vlaschenk0 who works for Nashe Misto, a local newspaper, was hit as he returned to his home in Mykolayiv on 16 October. Two mobile phones and...
Turkish man could face two-year prison sentence for Facebook comments
A Turkish man could face two years in prison for comments made about Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan on his Facebook page. A public prosecutor in Ankara is calling for the man’s imprisonment based on insulting Erdogan, along with some of his cabinet...
Russia: VOINA artist arrested, detained without charge
Members of the Russian artist group VOINA were arrested yesterday. Russian police, allegedly posing as German television journalists, arrested and detained Natalia Sokol along with her two-year-old son overnight at a police station in Moscow....
UK: Twitter vows to protect users from government
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has stressed the need to keep freedom of speech as a priority, even in times of civil unrest. Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Monday, Costolo stood by the decision not to suspend the service or reveal...