A new episode in the wave of repression against the media took place on Wednesday morning in Belarus: police in Minsk have searched the homes of several employees of the independent news agency BelaPAN and its online version, Naviny. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) denounce the detention of several media workers in connection with these searches. Iryna Leushyna, director and editor-in-chief of BelaPAN, was detained, as were accountant Ekaterina Boeva and former director Dmitry Novozhilov, according to the EFJ-IFJ affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). These new detentions bring to 33 the number of journalists and…

Yorgen Fenech, a Maltese business mogul, has been indicted for the murder of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 and will face a trial by jury on a date yet to be set. Fenech faces charges of complicity in murder and criminal association. So far, Vince Muscat has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to the murder earlier this year. Two further alleged hitmen, the brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio will also face trial. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes Fenech’s indictment and urges the Maltese authorities to finally end impunity and punish everyone involved…

After the dismissal without prior notice of two journalists and one cameraman from the local station TV Šibenik, the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) and the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ) repeat their call for a national collective agreement to ensure local media’s independence and journalists’ labour rights, referring to their campaign “Local media for citizens, not sheriffs“. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Croatian affiliates in condemning these extraordinary dismissals and supports the demand for a collective protection mechanism. On 13 August, the CJA and TUCJ held a press conference to denounce the recent decision of the owner of…