On 10 January, Greek police arrested the publisher and the director of Parapolitika newspaper, Giannis Kourtakis and Panayiotis Tzenos, following a lawsuit filed against them for libel and attempted extortion by Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos. The EFJ and the IFJ condemned today the massive police raid at Parapolitika headquarters in Athens and the detention of both newspaper executives. Publisher Giannis Kourtakis said he went voluntarily to the police headquarters after being informed about the lawsuit, while director Panagiotis Tzenos was arrested by police in his office, in Athens. Panos Kammenos filed a lawsuit against Kourtakis and Tzenos for allegedly…

UPDATE (13 April, 2017) – Blogger Mehman Huseynov’s appeal was rejected on 12 April by the Baku court of appeals, according to media reports. He was sentenced to two years in prison on defamation charges, because he accused the police of having tortured him following his arrest in January 2017. Huseynov’s lawyer Elchin Sadigov said they will file an appeal to the supreme court. Court of Appeals in Azerbaijan upholds 2 yrs sentence against Mehman Huseynov for defamation: https://t.co/E4ep7Bq1tD — CoE Media Freedom (@CoEMediaFreedom) April 12, 2017 On 9 January 2017, Mehman Huseynov, a blogger and journalist, was detained in…

Roularta Media Group announced on 10 January in a press release the decision to block comments on articles published on its newspapers’ websites, “due to the disrespectful nature of the discussions”. The Belgian group publishes among others Le Vif/L’Express, Trends, Knack and Sport-Foot Magazine. “Our mission is not to moderate resentments, but to inform. In this new era, where fake news spread on social networks takes precedence over verified information, there is an urgent need for the press to get back to basics: informing while at the same time avoiding to ride the buzz wave”, wrote Le Vif editor-in-chief, Vincent…