Watchdog

The International Press Institute (IPI) has expressed concern about the safety of Ukrainian journalist Vasyl Klymentyev, who has been missing since August 11.

A Ukrainian press freedom organization, the Institute of Mass Information, is also expressing fears that Klymentyev may be dead after his mobile telephone reportedly was found on a boat in the region of Kharkiv.

Klymentyev is the editor in chief of the "Novyy Styl." The small investigative newspaper focuses on corruption issues in Kharkiv and is known for Klymentyev's criticism of law enforcement officials.

The Associated Press reports that Klymentyev was threatened after refusing to accept money to hold back a story about a regional prosecutor accused of accepting bribes to close criminal cases.

Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych said last week that he would personally oversee an investigation into Klymentyev's disappearance.

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed concern over two ethnic Uzbek journalists held in detention since the ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Jalal-Abad in June, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

RSF said in a press release that Ulugbek Abdusalomov, editor of the independent newspaper "Diydo," faces charges of extremism, inciting interethnic hatred, organizing and participating in mass unrest, and separatism.

He has been transferred to a prison hospital with heart problems, where he is under constant police surveillance.

Azimzhan Askarov, a reporter for the website "Rights For All," has been charged with inciting demonstrators to violence. He has allegedly been beaten in detention.

Amnesty International has designated both men prisoners of conscience.

At least 379 people were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes during clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad from June 10-14.