The undersigned organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today express serious concern over the Molotov cocktail attack on the home of journalist Willem Groeneveld in Groningen last night. We welcome the prompt response of the Dutch authorities to carry out a police investigation. Our organisations call on the authorities to analyse the safety measures that were in place, to establish the motive of the attack and to bring those responsible to justice. Coming so soon after the fatal shooting of Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in Amsterdam in July, this potential attempted murder represents another serious…

The international community needs to urgently show solidarity with all Belarusian individuals and organisations struggling for their basic human rights, often at great cost to their own lives and livelihoods. The Belarus government’s escalating crackdown must be met with intensified international efforts to pressure the Lukašenka administration to change course and respect the human rights of the Belarusian people. We, the undersigned organisations, firmly condemn the Belarusian government’s rapidly escalating crackdown on Belarusian civil society and its increasingly brazen abuses of the Belarusian people’s right to freedom of expression and information. We further call on officials of the European Union, Council of…

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…

The photojournalist Oleksandr Kuzhelny from the online media Bykvu was brutally beaten after a right-wing rally in the center of Kyiv on 14 August. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) reported the incident. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate in the call on the authorities to hold the attackers to account and better protect journalists during demonstrations. The incident occurred after a protest at the Ukrainian President’s residence in Bankova Street called “Stop the capitulation”. Various nationalist groups had come together to protest against recent “repressions targeting Ukrainian nationalists”. The gathering soon turned violent as clashes erupted between…