In Belarus, since the fraudulent presidential election of 9 August 2020, journalists have faced hundreds of arrests and detentions. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Belarusian affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), in condemning the indiscriminate repression by the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko. The EFJ and BAJ demand the immediate release of the 35 journalists and media workers currently imprisoned in Belarus. The EFJ joins IFEX in supporting BAJ ongoing Solidarity Marathon on behalf of imprisoned journalists. 9 August 2023 is the third anniversary of the most recent presidential election in the Republic of Belarus. Three years ago, manipulated elections kept “Europe’s…

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) and the undersigned media freedom, freedom of expression, human rights, and journalists’ organisations strongly condemn the latest incident of judicial harassment against journalist Barış Pehlivan and reiterate calls to the Turkish authorities to respect media freedom. On August 2, journalist Barış Pehlivan was informed via an SMS from the Ministry of Justice that he was expected to turn himself over to the Marmara Low Security Correctional Institution (formerly Silivri) between August 1-15, 2023. Pehlivan has already been incarcerated four times due to his journalism, two of those being one day behind bars…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined its affiliates in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, and four civil society organisations (ECPMF, CPJ, FPU, OBCT) in writing to the Kosovo authorities to express concern about the case of journalist Svetlana Vukmirovic, who has been denied entry to Kosovo in order to carry out her work on multiple occasions since 2018. The latest case occurred on 1st May, when Vukmirovic – while working for public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia – was again banned from entering the territory of Kosovo with the explanation that she is considered…

On 7 August, Russian missile strikes damaged a hotel, which is popular among journalists covering the war, in the city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, in Ukraine. It is the second time in recent weeks that facilities used by media workers have been hit by Russian fire in Ukrainian cities. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the attack in the strongest terms and remind the Russian authorities that journalists and media workers operating in areas of armed conflict must be treated and protected as civilians and allowed to perform their work without interference. Russian strikes…

The Turkish offices of the Russian news agency Sputnik, in Istanbul and Ankara, have just dismissed 24 unionized journalists who had decided to strike to obtain better working conditions. The strike was declared following the failure of negotiations on a new collective labor agreement, announced on Monday the Trade Union of Journalists of Turkey, TGS, affiliated to the European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ). “Sputnik is firing our members instead of respecting their trade union rights and responding to their legitimate demands,” said TGS President Gökhan Durmuş. “The agency even went so far as to dismiss a union delegate,…

Malta is the country with the highest number of Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) per capita in the European Union. Troubling statistics combined with the ongoing quest for full justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia should prompt Malta to demonstrate a special commitment to enacting comprehensive legislation to protect public watchdogs from abusive lawsuits and set an example for other countries. Article 19 Europe, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF) have commented on the updated proposals relating to SLAPPs made…