RFE/RL’s Baku Bureau was raided by police and investigators on December 26, who seized documents and official stamps and sealed the bureau to prevent further journalistic work. More than two dozen bureau employees were questioned by prosecutors without benefit of legal representation or explanation of any charges.

This move followed an escalation of government interference with RFE/RL reporting in 2014. Beginning in February, Azerbaijani contributors Khadija Ismayilova and Yafez Hasanov were harassed and accused of espionage. In the following months, the harassment of Ismayilova intensified, culminating in Ismayilova being jailed on politically motivated charges in December.

Contributors to the Martí’s citizen journalism initiative “Reporta Cuba” have faced numerous instances of harassment and threats. In July, Cuban authorities violently arrested several citizen journalists and confiscated their recording equipment along with DVDs containing TV Martí programming. There have been more than a dozen of similar incidents in the past year, meant to intimidate reporters and citizen journalists and prevent the spread of non-state information.

VOA journalists in South Sudan have been subjected to harassment and threats from government officials amid a battle for control of the country between forces loyal to the President and those loyal to the Vice President. In March, a VOA journalist was picked up from his office in Juba by government security officers and brought to South Sudan’s Deputy Director for National Security. He was held for more than five hours and questioned. With the help of the U.S. Embassy in Juba, the journalist was released unharmed. On the same day, another VOA journalist was detained by security forces in the city of Wau and a different VOA journalist left the country out of fear of harassment. In August, a VOA journalist was forced into hiding because government authorities harassed him over his reporting on rebel activities.