18 Apr 2012 | Americas, Index Index, minipost
A police officer investigating a journalist’s murder was shot dead on Saturday by two men on a motorcycle in Ponta Porã on the Brazil-Paraguay border. Paulo César Santos Magalhães, who was part of a special unit fighting organised crime, was leading the investigation into the death of journalist Paulo Rocaro, also shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle in February. Magalhães stopped at traffic lights before being shot 13 times. Four other Brazilian journalists besides Rocaro have been murdered this year. Investigations into their deaths are ongoing.
18 Apr 2012 | Azerbaijan News, Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, News and features
Azerbaijani journalist and Index award-winner Idrak Abbasov was brutally assaulted today. (more…)
17 Apr 2012 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
A video posted online titled “All the Truth about Russians,” was ruled extremist by a Novosibirsk court on Monday. The video, posted on social networking sites by a man from the town of Berdsk who faces extremism charges in the case, has been removed and banned because it shows Russians in a negative light, the regional prosecutor said in a statement. It has been reported that audio accompanying the video included statements about “how easy Russian women are” and how Russian men “are not worthy of being called men”.
17 Apr 2012 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
Freelance journalist John Grobler has won a libel case against Namibia’s ruling Swapo party. On Friday (13 April), the party was ordered to pay Grobler 300,000 Namibian dollars (27,300 GBP) in damages in connection to defamatory statements made about him on the party’s website in September 2009. This is the first time that Swapo itself — rather than an individual party officeholder — has been held legally accountable over libelous statements made on a party platform. It is also the first time that online content has led to someone being held liable for defamation in the country.
