New survey carried out by the Croatian journalists’ association (HND) shows an increase in lawsuits targeting journalists and media outlets in Croatia compared to last year. According to HND survey, at least 924 lawsuits were initiated against journalists and media outlets in Croatia, in which plaintiffs are claiming almost 10.5 million euros. Among them, 892 are civil lawsuits for alleged violations of honour and reputation against publishers, editors and journalists for publishing texts and articles. The other 32 are criminal lawsuits. Plaintiffs are individuals, public and political figures, as well as legal entities, politicians in power and judges. The Hanza…

Sunday 18 April 2021 marks two years since Lyra McKee was shot dead while reporting on riots in Derry. Still no one has been convicted of her murder. As we honour Lyra McKee and reiterate our call for justice, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in expressing our grave concern over the recent increase in attacks and threats to journalists and media workers in Northern Ireland. A talented and courageous investigative journalist, McKee, in her writing on the consequences of the Troubles for a host of domestic and international outlets, tackled issues…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined Slovenian journalists and journalists’ unions in condemning the new threat against Delo’s Brussels correspondent Peter Žerjavič on Twitter.  The Slovenian government is known to publicly attack and discredit critical journalists and media outlets. The latest in date occurred on 8 April 2021 on Twitter. The Slovenian State Secretary for National Security, Žan Mahnič, threatened Delo’s Brussels correspondent Peter Žerjavič after he had posted a tweet criticising Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša‘s attack on the German national television ARD. Commenting under Žerjavič’ criticism, Mahnič said: “Who in the EU cares what some irrelevant ARD thinks.…

On 27 April 2017, during protest in Skopje, which later resulted in the storming of the Parliament building by nationalist demonstrators, a total of 21 journalists were threatened or barred from reporting at the scene. One of them, Goran Trpenovski, was dismissed yesterday by the Civil Court in Skopje, which did not recognise his status as a journalist. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its affiliate AJM/ZNM challenge the interpretation of the Macedonian court and call on it to review its decision. Goran Trpenovski covered the events of 27 April 2017 for the online media Sakamdakazham (sdk.mk). He was…

Freelance journalist Vladislav Yesypenko has told a court he was tortured and forced to confess after he was arrested in March by the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers in Crimea on fabricated charges. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) call for his immediate release and the withdrawal of all charges against him. Vladislav Yesypenko’s lawyer, Aleksei Ladin, said his client testified during a closed-door hearing on 6 April that he was tortured and threatened with death: “They tortured him with electric shocks and by beating his legs, his genital area, his body. They beat him to obtain confessions and forced him to incriminate…

Belarussian authorities have banned pan-European news media Euronews from broadcasting in the country, alleging it violated legislation by running advertisements in English. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) join the Belarussian Association of Journalists (BAJ) in condemning this new attack on freedom of information and act of censorship by the Belarussian government. The Belarussian media regulator said in a statement that it had removed Euronews from the list of international media which can operate in the country and announced it would be replaced by Russian programming. The authorities said they did not renew Euronews’ license, which expired on 12 April, because they did not…