Announcements

Jan’s and Daphne’s Laws: How to Stop the Murder of Journalists.

The cold-blooded murder of Slovak investigative journalist Jan Kuciak was also a cold slap across the face of modern Europe. That the public watchdogs -- the beloved members of a profession that is sometimes more reviled than admired -- could be halted simply by a brutal act of violence seems to portend a further breakdown of European values. There has been much handwringing about what to do.

Jan KuciakJan Kuciak

Letter: When UNESCO’s Director General Broke Her Silence

Khadija Ismayilova is an investigative journalist with Radio Free Europe and OCCRP. She responds to UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova’s letter to the Guardian about UNESCO’s relationship with her country’s repressive government.  Ismayilova spent 18 months in an Azerbaijani jail for her reporting about the ruling Aliyev family of Azerbaijan.

Photo courtesy of Khadija IsmayilovaKhadija Ismayilova (Photo by  Aziz Karimov)

OCCRP Investigations Named Global Shining Light Award Finalists

The Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) included two OCCRP investigations as finalists for the bi-annual Global Shining Light Award, a prize honouring “investigative journalism in developing or transitioning countries, done under threat, duress or under dire conditions.”  

Global Shining Light Award2015 Global Shining Light Awards, Drew Sullivan (left), Miranda Patrucic (middle) and Stevan Dojcinovic accepting their award. (Photo:OCCRP)

OCCRP Statement on the Arrest and Abduction of Journalist Afgan Mukhtarli

Afgan Mukhtarli (Photo: Afgan Mukhtarli/Facebook)Afgan Mukhtarli (Photo: Afgan Mukhtarli/Facebook) Afgan Mukhtarli is an Azerbaijani journalist, living in Georgia, who has worked with both OCCRP partner MeydanTV and with OCCRP. The Tbilisi-based journalist disappeared off the streets near his home on May 29 and was next seen in custody in his native Azerbaijan, where he has been charged with crossing the border illegally, carrying 10,000 euros in undeclared currency, and resisting border guards.

Through his lawyer, Mukhtarli denies all charges and claims he was kidnapped, beaten, had money stuffed in his pockets, taken to the border, and handed over to Azerbaijan authorities.

OCCRP will continue to work for the release of Afgan Mukhtarli. His arrest is an affront to international rule of law and his kidnapping is a crime in Georgia.

Mukhtarli has been working on stories on the business holdings of the family of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev in Georgia. OCCRP will continue his work on these stories until his release.

When OCCRP partner, journalist Khadija Ismayilova, was arrested in Baku in 2014, OCCRP continued her work and published the Khadija Project, a series of investigative stories about the corruption of the Aliyev family, while she was in prison.

The message is clear. You can arrest one of our reporters, but a dozen will take their place. The truth will get out.