Latest news with #RadioFreeEurope
DW
a day ago
- Politics
- DW
Azerbaijan: 12 years prison for explaining economics? – DW – 06/02/2025
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty journalist Farid Mehralizada could spend the next 12 years in an Azerbaijani prison. His crime? Explaining economics. Talk to Farid Mehralizada's friends and colleagues, and they'll tell you that he has a superpower: the ability to explain economics in a way that ordinary people can understand. It was this superpower that made the young economist and Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/ RL) journalist a sought-after commentator on talk shows and discussion panels in Azerbaijan, where he would patiently debunk one government claim after the other. It was also very likely this same superpower which led to his arrest. On May 30, 2024, Mehralizada was violently abducted near a Baku station by unidentified men, who hooded him and delivered him to a police station. Two days later, a Baku court placed him in pre-trial detention for "conspiring to smuggle foreign currency." Three months later, "illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion and document forgery" were added to the charges. If convicted, he could face up to 12 years in prison. Mehralizada's job of explaining economic issues to the public got him in trouble with the authorities Image: RFE / RL Painful memories for formerly incarcerated journalist Mehralizada's trial, which is expected to conclude this month, has brought back difficult memories for his RFE/ RL colleague, Alsu Kurmasheva, who spent nine months in a Russian prison after being accused first of failing to register herself under Russian President Vladimir Putin's controversial foreign agent law, then of the much more serious charge of "spreading false information." "Hearing that the prosecutors wanted a 12-year sentence for Farid was very painful," she told DW's Inside Europe podcast . "It took me back to my sentence where the prosecutor wanted nine years' imprisonment for me." Nine years, Kurmasheva points out, is longer than the average murder conviction in Russia. "People who kill a human being get five or six years," she says, whereas "journalists who report the truth get nine or 12 years. It's beyond comprehension." Kurmasheva was released in August 2024, as part of a high-profile prisoner swap, which also included the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich. Footage of her joyful reunion with her husband and two teenage daughters went around the world. However, she says that 10 months on, she and her family are still suffering from flashbacks. "I will never be able to erase what has happened to us from my memory, from the memory of my children, from the memory of my husband," she told DW. "We still feel the damage." In the case of Farid Mehralizada, the cost has already been steep. His wife was pregnant at the time of his arrest, and gave birth while he was in pre-trial detention. "I've already missed seeing my daughter smile for the first time, laugh, and roll over," Mehralizada wrote recently from prison . "If convicted, I will miss more precious moments than I can even imagine." An escalating crackdown on press and NGOs The charges against Farid Mehralizada are typical of those levelled against journalists, NGO workers and other civil society actors in Azerbaijan's ongoing government crackdown against dissenting voices, which the NGO Human Rights Watch extensively chronicled in a 2024 report titled: "'We Try To Stay Invisible.' Azerbaijan's Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Civil Society." Mehralizada is standing trial alongside six other journalists ― who are all from the independent investigative outlet Abzas media. Mehralizada, however, has never worked for Abzas. His employer is Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, which was founded by the US government during the Cold War, later becoming a private corporation supervised by the United States Agency for Global Media and funded by the US Congress. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty journalists operate in some of the world's most challenging media environments, at great personal risk. Usually, Washington's advocacy in a case like Mehralizada's would be a given. However, the organization is currently battling a funding crisis unleashed by President Donald Trump's attempts to freeze its funding, with some hope of temporary relief thanks to the promise of a €5.5 million emergency allocation from the EU. Europeans worried over Trump's cuts to public broadcasters To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'What am I going to say to their families?' When Alsu Kurmasheva first heard about Donald Trump's intention to freeze RFE/ RL funding, her first thought was for her imprisoned colleagues . Her next thought, she says, was: "what am I going to say next time I call their families?" However, with the substantial bipartisan support still enjoyed by RFE/ RL in Congress, together with the advocacy of press freedom groups and journalists around the world, Kurmasheva is hopeful that cases like Mehralizada's can be kept in the spotlight. Every time there are trade negotiations between countries, Kurmasheva says, officials shouldn't be afraid to raise the plight of imprisoned journalists: "When the free world unites over this issue, the problem will be solved." It's a conviction that might seem utopian, until you remember that Kurmasheva speaks with the authority of someone who has experienced the miracle first hand. Alsu Kurmasheva was imprisoned in Russia from October 2023 to August 2024 Image: AP/picture alliance Several RFE/ RL journalists imprisoned Since her release last year, Kurmasheva's journalistic career has been on hold. Meanwhile, she has become a full-time advocate for other journalists who have not been so lucky. They include her RFE/ RL colleagues Vladyslav Yesypenko in Crimea, Nika Novak in Siberia and Ihar Losik in Belarus, as well as Mehralizada. Kurmasheva says she is particularly alarmed for Nika Novak, because "conditions for women prisoners in Russia are horrific," and Novak is, she has reason to believe, becoming desperate. Ihar Losik disappeared into Belarus' notorious detention system five years ago, and no contact has been possible since. "He is a young journalist who is so talented," Kurmasheva says. "He shouldn't be there." Edited by: Carla Bleiker
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Portnov family bought Dubai properties worth over $2 million, media investigation says
The family of late Andriy Portnov, a former top aide to ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, acquired more than $2 million worth of real estate in Dubai during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an investigative report by Schemes, a project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has revealed on June 2. According to property records leaked from Dubai's Land Department and state-owned utilities, verified in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Le Monde, six properties were purchased in 2022–2023 by Portnov's civil partner, Anastasiia Valiaieva, and his daughter, Liliia Portnova. As of mid-2025, five of the properties remain under their ownership. The first known purchase was made by Portnova in October 2022, when she bought a 69-square-meter apartment in Sobha Hartland One Park Avenue for around $320,000. Property acquisitions reportedly accelerated in mid-2023, with Portnova and Valiaieva investing in multiple new developments, including Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence and Creek Vista Heights, spending between $132,000 and $600,000 per unit. One property — an apartment in Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence valued at over $600,000 — is still under construction and slated for completion in September 2025. Another, in Creek Vista Heights, worth more than $550,000, is expected to be completed in 2026. Despite owning these high-end assets, Schemes found no public records indicating current business activity for either woman. Valiaieva previously owned a company called Vasilisa Group, formerly known as Portnov Group and linked to Portnov himself, but he ceased to be listed as its owner in 2020. Journalists were also able to confirm that Valiaieva has held Russian citizenship since 2014 and that Portnova is a Swiss national. In April 2024, Portnov transferred ownership of a luxury estate outside Kyiv to his children through a notarized deed of gift. The document, obtained by Schemes, shows that the transaction was conducted by Valiaieva on behalf of their children. A Ukrainian notary certified the deed, while a lawyer who previously represented Portnov in court, Marina Parinova, acted on his behalf using a power of attorney notarized in Madrid. Neither Portnova nor Valiaieva responded to requests for comment from Schemes, nor did attorneys previously associated with Portnov. The revelations come around two weeks after Portnov was shot dead in Madrid on May 21. Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed his death to the Kyiv Independent. Spanish media outlets said Portnov was shot at five times, with at least three bullets striking his head and torso. No arrests have been made. Portnov, 51, was a central figure in the Yanukovych administration from 2010 to 2014 and was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 over allegations of corruption and judicial manipulation. After fleeing Ukraine following the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, he resided in Russia and Austria, returning to Ukraine in 2019. He fled again in June 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion began. Known as one of the most litigious ex-officials in Ukraine, Portnov sued several media outlets, including the Kyiv Independent, over reports labeling him "pro-Russian." He won a defamation case in a Kyiv court in 2024. His influence extended into the media as well: he briefly headed the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne in 2018. A 2020 UkraineWorld report accused Portnov of using online bots to discredit the EuroMaidan Revolution and Ukraine's pro-European reforms. Read also: Hated, tainted, and covertly pro-Russian — Andriy Portnov, the top Ukrainian ex-official shot dead in Spain We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
DW
a day ago
- Politics
- DW
Azerbaijan: Young economics journalist facing prison – DW – 06/02/2025
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty journalist Farid Mehralizada could spend the next 12 years in an Azerbaijani prison. His crime? Explaining economics. Talk to Farid Mehralizada's friends and colleagues, and they'll tell you that he has a superpower: the ability to explain economics in a way that ordinary people can understand. It was this superpower that made the young economist and Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/ RL) journalist a sought-after commentator on talk shows and discussion panels in Azerbaijan, where he would patiently debunk one government claim after the other. It was also very likely this same superpower which led to his arrest. On May 30, 2024, Mehralizada was violently abducted near a Baku station by unidentified men, who hooded him and delivered him to a police station. Two days later, a Baku court placed him in pre-trial detention for "conspiring to smuggle foreign currency." Three months later, "illegal entrepreneurship, money laundering, tax evasion and document forgery" were added to the charges. If convicted, he could face up to 12 years in prison. Mehralizada's job of explaining economic issues to the public got him in trouble with the authorities Image: RFE / RL Painful memories for formerly incarcerated journalist Mehralizada's trial, which is expected to conclude this month, has brought back difficult memories for his RFE/ RL colleague, Alsu Kurmasheva, who spent nine months in a Russian prison after being accused first of failing to register herself under Russian President Vladimir Putin's controversial foreign agent law, then of the much more serious charge of "spreading false information." "Hearing that the prosecutors wanted a 12-year sentence for Farid was very painful," she told DW's Inside Europe podcast . "It took me back to my sentence where the prosecutor wanted nine years' imprisonment for me." Nine years, Kurmasheva points out, is longer than the average murder conviction in Russia. "People who kill a human being get five or six years," she says, whereas "journalists who report the truth get nine or 12 years. It's beyond comprehension." Kurmasheva was released in August 2024, as part of a high-profile prisoner swap, which also included the Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich. Footage of her joyful reunion with her husband and two teenage daughters went around the world. However, she says that 10 months on, she and her family are still suffering from flashbacks. "I will never be able to erase what has happened to us from my memory, from the memory of my children, from the memory of my husband," she told DW. "We still feel the damage." In the case of Farid Mehralizada, the cost has already been steep. His wife was pregnant at the time of his arrest, and gave birth while he was in pre-trial detention. "I've already missed seeing my daughter smile for the first time, laugh, and roll over," Mehralizada wrote recently from prison . "If convicted, I will miss more precious moments than I can even imagine." An escalating crackdown on press and NGOs The charges against Farid Mehralizada are typical of those levelled against journalists, NGO workers and other civil society actors in Azerbaijan's ongoing government crackdown against dissenting voices, which the NGO Human Rights Watch extensively chronicled in a 2024 report titled: "'We Try To Stay Invisible.' Azerbaijan's Escalating Crackdown on Critics and Civil Society." Mehralizada is standing trial alongside six other journalists ― who are all from the independent investigative outlet Abzas media. Mehralizada, however, has never worked for Abzas. His employer is Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, which was founded by the US government during the Cold War, later becoming a private corporation supervised by the United States Agency for Global Media and funded by the US Congress. Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty journalists operate in some of the world's most challenging media environments, at great personal risk. Usually, Washington's advocacy in a case like Mehralizada's would be a given. However, the organization is currently battling a funding freeze imposed by President Donald Trump, and is being kept on life support by a €5.5 million ($6.3 million) emergency allocation from the EU. Europeans worried over Trump's cuts to public broadcasters To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video 'What am I going to say to their families?' When Alsu Kurmasheva first heard about Donald Trump's intention to freeze RFE/ RL funding, her first thought was for her imprisoned colleagues . Her next thought, she says, was: "what am I going to say next time I call their families?" However, with the substantial bipartisan support still enjoyed by RFE/ RL in Congress, together with the advocacy of press freedom groups and journalists around the world, Kurmasheva is hopeful that cases like Mehralizada's can be kept in the spotlight. Every time there are trade negotiations between countries, Kurmasheva says, officials shouldn't be afraid to raise the plight of imprisoned journalists: "When the free world unites over this issue, the problem will be solved." It's a conviction that might seem utopian, until you remember that Kurmasheva speaks with the authority of someone who has experienced the miracle first hand. Alsu Kurmasheva was imprisoned in Russia from October 2023 to August 2024 Image: AP/picture alliance Several RFE/ RL journalists imprisoned Since her release last year, Kurmasheva's journalistic career has been on hold. Meanwhile, she has become a full-time advocate for other journalists who have not been so lucky. They include her RFE/ RL colleagues Vladyslav Yesypenko in Crimea, Nika Novak in Siberia and Ihar Losik in Belarus, as well as Mehralizada. Kurmasheva says she is particularly alarmed for Nika Novak, because "conditions for women prisoners in Russia are horrific," and Novak is, she has reason to believe, becoming desperate. Ihar Losik disappeared into Belarus' notorious detention system five years ago, and no contact has been possible since. "He is a young journalist who is so talented," Kurmasheva says. "He shouldn't be there." Edited by: Carla Bleiker
France 24
2 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
'A sweet madness' or 'uncivilised barbarians'? Papers discuss aftermath of PSG win
After Paris Saint-Germain 's Champions League victory on Saturday, the story is still on the front pages of most French dailies. Left-wing Libération writes that " Paris is well worth a jubilation". The paper says that the win resonated across France all weekend. In a similar tone, Le Parisien' s front page says "Day of jubilation". The Parisian daily is talking about Sunday's festivities across Paris, and how fans got to celebrate with their beloved football stars. The paper calls it "A sweet madness". But with two people dead and hundreds arrested, the victory wasn't that sweet. Right-wing daily Le Figaro also mentions the post-win violence on its front page, where the title of an editorial reads "Paris can no longer be a party". The article condemns the aftermath of the match and all the "sirens, knives, injured police officers and even deaths". It says that "thugs" and "gangs" tried to invade the ring road around Paris and the Champs-Élysées. 'The issue is no longer one of security, it's one of culture," says the article, blaming "uncivilised barbarians" for causing the destruction. An article in L'Opinion says that "on Saturday evening, euphoria gave way to chaos". It asks how a football win can "generate such an impulse for hatred and destruction", adding that scenes in London, Madrid or Manchester after a victory aren't the same. After a major attack on Russia 's military aviation on Sunday, Kyiv claims it has destroyed nearly 40 aircraft and struck thousands of kilometres inside Russia's borders. The Financial Times calls it a "bold" strike "deep inside Russian territory". The Ukrainian intelligence service, the SBU, says they'd been preparing the operation for over a year. In an opinion piece, The Washington Post says that " Ukraine just rewrote the rules of war". It adds that the Ukrainians revealed a vulnerability that shows the need for a "massive investment in counter-drone systems". Ukrainian daily The Kyiv Post writes that US President Donald Trump wasn't given a heads-up about the attack. An official told the paper that the operation was "purely Ukrainian" and the US didn't have anything to do with it. As for reactions from the Russian side, Radio Free Europe 's team in Siberia spoke to Russians there, who "appeared to be shaken". "Now the war has reached us too," they told the paper. The article writes that many Russians had thus far only seen and felt the war from afar. Moving to Eastern Europe, Bulgarians have been protesting against the adoption of the euro. The Bulgarian Telegraph Agency reports that protests have been held in several cities across the country. The demonstrators are asking for a referendum vote so that they can choose whether to keep the Bulgarian lev or switch to the euro. Radio Free Europe reports that it will be decided this week whether the euro will be adopted from next year, with the European Commission expected to greenlight the move. The paper notes that this comes despite the many protesters who carry Russian flags and have expressed anti-European sentiments. Some Bulgarians say they fear that adopting the euro will lead to even more corruption and inflation in the country. According to a survey, 50 percent of Bulgarians are against the euro's adoption. We finish with some health news. British daily The Standard reports that using weight loss drugs might not lead to the desired effects, according to research. It talks about side effects like so-called Ozempic teeth or oral health problems and more serious health issues like hypoglycemia. The results are also not long-lasting, as a lot of people who stop taking the drug return to their original weight within a year. On the brighter side, the fight against cancer is advancing. The Financial Times reports that AstraZeneca has unveiled a drug that can stop mutating tumours before they start to grow. AstraZeneca said that it hopes to become "the number one cancer company globally". The Independent writes about another study, this time on colon cancer. Researchers have found that regular exercise can reduce the risk of death by more than a third. The scientists hope the findings will show doctors that including exercise plans is crucial for cancer patients.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
After contractor cuts, Voice of America staffers brace for further layoffs
Voice of America employees are bracing for further reductions in their workforce, not long after the Trump administration announced plans to terminate more than 500 contractors, according to several staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about it. Cuts, which may be made as soon as this week, are expected to target all or most of the 800 remaining staffers at the government-funded news organization, which started in 1942 to combat Nazi propaganda abroad. These employees work full time and are more difficult to fire than the contractors, whose last day is May 30. Politico first reported the news on Wednesday. Senior VOA officials said that they were certain that further cuts were on the way but that the timing remained uncertain. Most VOA staffers have been on paid administrative leave since President Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 14 aimed at dismantling the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and which funds nonprofit media networks such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. The layoffs at VOA are part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to reduce the size and scope of the U.S. government. Numerous agencies have rolled out widespread reductions in force, some of which have been challenged in federal court. Last week, a federal judge ordered the Education Department to reinstate nearly 1,400 fired workers. 'A department without enough employees to perform statutorily mandated functions is not a department at all,' U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun in Massachusetts wrote in an order granting a preliminary injunction. Further, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in Northern California granted a preliminary injunction on May 22 extending a sweeping freeze on mass layoffs and reorganizations at 22 federal agencies, though USAGM isn't currently included. VOA is already suing the Trump administration over the March executive order, saying that the president does not have authority to unilaterally dismantle the news organization, which was created by Congress. After U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth issued an injunction on April 22, which would have sent VOA staffers back to work, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which included two Trump appointees, stayed most of the injunction on May 3, keeping staffers on leave. Kari Lake, senior adviser to USAGM, has promised to keep VOA at a 'statutory minimum' level of staffing and has brought back about 30 out of 1,300 staffers to do so. Lake has been detailed to the State Department to oversee the dismantling of USAGM, which oversees VOA. Lake did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, but she previously told The Washington Post that more cuts were coming to USAGM. 'In accordance with President Trump's executive order dated March 14, we are in the process of rightsizing the agency and reducing the federal bureaucracy to meet administration priorities,' she wrote in an email on May 15. 'We will continue to scale back the bloat at USAGM and make an archaic dinosaur into something worthy of being funded by hardworking Americans. Buckle up. There's more to come.' Jessica Jerreat, VOA's press freedom editor and a named plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the news — and how it was conveyed to staff — was disappointing. 'It's frustrating seeing the dismantling of an 83-year-old broadcaster in this way,' she told The Post. 'The uncertainty and way details are communicated make the situation worse. Plus we have our vulnerable colleagues who are already terminated and risk losing visa status by end of June.' J-1 visa holders have 30 days after termination to leave the United States, sparking fears that they may return to home countries hostile to critical journalists. David Kligerman, who retired in January as general counsel and chief legal officer at USAGM, said the expected reduction in force would constitute 'a violation of the Impoundment Control Act and an unconstitutional usurpation of Congress's power of the purse.' He added: 'To the extent that VOA prevails on at least some aspect of that claim, as many believe they will, it is hard to see how such a reduction in force — which would completely remove any and all of the staff who could carry out VOA's mission — is ultimately lawful.'
