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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) welcomed the release today of Stanislav Aseyev and Oleh Halaziuk, two contributors to its Ukrainian Service who were taken captive by Russia-backed separatists in 2017 because of their reporting from Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
“RFE/RL works with hundreds of Russian correspondents across the country who are a lifeline for news-deprived local communities and who tackle important issues ignored by state media, but who, according to this law, should now, absurdly, be considered ‘foreign agents.’ These are exceptional and dedicated journalists. It is an outrage that this law targets their work and jeopardizes their security in an attempt to silence them and deprive Russian citizens of their right to seek reliable information.” - RFE/RL President Jamie Fly
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Afghan Service, locally known as Radio Azadi, has received the 2019 David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award for courage, excellence and professionalism in journalism.
Two high-profile events in New York and Kyiv today indicate increasing public pressure for the release of imprisoned Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev, a case that has become emblematic of the Russia-backed separatist conflict in Ukraine’s eastern region.
Only days after authorities in Tajikistan responded piecemeal to the accreditation requests of nearly 20 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalists and staff, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly met with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to press for the rights of Tajik audiences to receive objective reporting, and for RFE/RL journalists to work freely and without intimidation.
In a letter to Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly criticized the ministry’s decision to withhold accreditation from some members of its Tajik Service and grant only partial accreditation to others, obstructing the organization’s journalistic mission inside the country.
The U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have added their voices to an international campaign urging the government of Tajikistan to comply with local law and international conventions and accredit as many as 18 journalists and staff with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Tajik Service who risk losing their right to work on November 1.
"We stand with our colleagues at RFE/RL in calling Stanislav Aseyev's conviction a reprehensible act and demand his immediate release. We cannot accept malign actions against journalists who are simply doing their job and pursuing the truth. Journalism is not a crime and threats to its free practice are a denial of basic human rights." - Grant Turner, CEO & Director
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has received the 2019 Edward R. Murrow Award for Multimedia in the Television Network category by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). The award was received by Vice President and Editor-in-Chief Daisy Sindelar during the annual RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala in New York on October 14.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, delegates to the PEN Congress in Manila, and speakers and attendees at a press conference in Kyiv today all raised their voices to call for the release of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) contributor Stanislav Aseyev, who is marking his 30th birthday today — the third spent as a prisoner held incommunicado by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
