New appeal launched in Madrid for the release of journalist Pablo González
Just over a month ago, the annual meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the immediate release of journalist Pablo González Yagüe, who has been held in Poland since February 28, 2022 on vague espionage charges. This Wednesday, the EFJ joins the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), their affiliates in Spain (FAPE, FeSP, FSC-CCOO, ELA, UGT) and other organizations defending journalists, in demonstrating outside the Polish consulate in Madrid, to once again call on the Polish authorities to put an end to the journalist’s interminable pre-trial detention.
“It is not tolerable that a country of the European Union has a journalist imprisoned, with absolute opacity about the precise charges against him, after 27 months of imprisonment and incommunicado,” said the EFJ resolution, demanding to the judicial authorities of Poland “maximum transparency in the process they are pursuing against Pablo González and – in the shortest possible time – the rapid holding of a fair trial with all the guarantees, in the face of the accusations and alleged evidence that could be provided against him”.
The demonstration to be held in Madrid on Wednesday will demand a fair trial and the immediate repatriation of the journalist pending trial. Since his arrest on 28 February 2022, the Polish authorities have not specified the details that would justify his detention, except for a vague accusation of “espionage”. Formally, he is still in “pre-trial detention”, which the Prosecutor’s Office – in agreement with the judge – has extended nine times.
At the time of his arrest, he was on Polish territory reporting on the arrival of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Pablo González is currently being held in Radom prison, about a hundred kilometers from Warsaw.
