The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined media freedom partners in the SafeJournalist Network, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in writing to the head of the Special Prosecution against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK). We expressed our concerns over the recent actions SPAK has taken to seize journalist Elton Qyno’s equipment and to pressure him to reveal his sources. The letter urges the SPAK to proceed in the legal case with  respect for international standards regarding the protection of journalistic sources.   Mr. Altin Dumani Head of the Special Prosecution against Corruption and…

Russia launched two massive attacks in Ukraine between 29 December 2023 and 2 January 2024, which injured three journalists and damaged four newsrooms. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemned the attacks in the strongest terms and expressed solidarity with the media workers targeted. On 30 December 2023, two employees working for the German TV channel ZDF were injured by the shelling of the Kharkiv Palace Hotel which was mostly occupied by media workers at that moment. As a result, a security guard of foreign nationality who was working as a security advisor to ZDF, had to undergo…

On 27 and 29 December 2023, multiple journalists were detained by police in Moscow. Some of them were awaiting a verdict in the case of a group of activists accused for statements critical of the war in Ukraine. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Russian affiliate, the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU), are demanding the immediate release of these journalists, who were only doing their job. The police arrested journalist Mikhail Lebedev on 27 December near the Prosecutor General’s Office in Moscow, while he was filming a solidarity picket of activist Oksana Osadcha, who was calling for…

This article first featured on the Swedish Journalist union website Some 50 freelance writers at Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) have long been in negotiations with management about their fees. A demonstration supported by the Swedish Union of Journalists was held on Friday 8 December outside SvD in Stockholm following the break-down of negotiations, which had started in the spring of 2023. No significant increase in 20 years In addition to a symbolic adjustment in the spring, SvD’s freelancers emphasised in the negotiations that they have not received a significant increase in over twenty years and that they therefore earn less than…

Furkan Karabay, editor for the independent news website Gerçek Gündem (“The Real Agenda”),  was taken into custody by the Istanbul police on 28 December 2023, following an article on the trial of judiciary members. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) demand his immediate release and urge the authorities to withdraw all charges against him.  Karabay was taken to the Çağlayan Courthouse (Istanbul), by police officers who arrested him in the early hours of 28 December. After spending the night at the police station, the editor was released pending trial.  His detention follows a story published on 27 December,…

108 journalists spent New Year’s Eve in prison, according to a count by organisations affiliated to the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism. While the overall number of journalists detained in Europe has fallen slightly compared to last year (108 instead of 124), repression has increased considerably in certain countries, such as Azerbaijan, where the number of journalists detained has almost quadrupled, as well as in Russia, which this year has become the country that imprisons the most journalists in Europe (40 in total, in Russia and occupied Ukraine). The…