A criminal wall of silence
Italian journalists face in serious difficulties investigating organised crime and links with business. Cecilia Anesi reports from a conference highlighting the issue
Lukashenko’s Soviet mercenaries
Belarus is Europe’s last dictatorship. Andrej Dynko explains how the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko retains his tight grip on power
RBS pulls out of Belarus after Index campaign
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The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it will no longer engage in “any type of capital-raising” on behalf of the government of Belarus after an Index on Censorship and Free Belarus Now campaign.
A former police officer detained for murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya
Russian investigators have detained a former lieutenant police colonel as a suspect in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The campaigning reporter was openly critical of Russia’s involvement in Chechnya. According to the latest investigation, Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov was offered cash to murder Politkovskaya, and he was a part of a group aiming to kill her, including Rustam Makhmudov. Makhmudov was arrested on 31 May for allegedly shooting Politkovskaya. There are also allegations that Pavlyucenkov used his position as lieutenant police colonel to monitor the movements of the journalist.