No fewer than 34 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists have been targeted in 2017 because of the work they do in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Macedonia and elsewhere. They have been subject to physical assault, imprisonment, court convictions, arbitrary detention, interrogation, stalking, verbal attacks, online threats, and seizure of equipment. In some cases, their family members have been targeted.

The perpetrators of these attacks are almost never held accountable. In the overwhelming majority of cases, authorities have acted with impunity, and non-state actors have gone unpunished. Instead, RFE/RL reporters are the ones who are treated as criminals.

On November 2, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, RFE/RL pays tribute to its journalists and their family members who are in prison and under threat: Mykola Semena, Stanislav Aseyev, Saparmamed Nepeskuliev, Soltan Achilova, and Aziz Yusupov. (Please see RFE/RL President Thomas Kent’s statement.)

RFE/RL calls for respect for international standards and commitments to allow journalists everywhere to do their jobs safely, securely, and with the full protection of the law as they bring news and information to the people who need it most.