The home of Russian journalist and human rights activist Zoya Svetova was raided by the police on February 28. According to her lawyer Anna Stavitskaya, ten investigators and two representatives of Federal Security Bureau (FSB) entered the property in the morning and searched her computer, personal papers and books. Stavitskaya believes that the raid is connected to Yukos (the oil company) case for alleged tax evasion. She explained that Russian law enforcement agencies think that the proceeds are used to fund organisations and individuals, among them Svetova. The Moscow Times columnist is known for her work on prisoners’ rights in…

On 24 February 2017, Spiegel Online reported in an article that the German foreign intelligence agency (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) apparently spied on at least 50 telephone and fax numbers or email addresses of journalists or newsrooms worldwide from 1999 onwards. According to documents seen by Spiegel, among the targets were the BBC in Afghanistan and London, the New York Times in Afghanistan, as well as mobile and satellite telephones of the news agency Reuters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Spiegel Online doesn’t mention the nature of the journalists’ work and the length of the surveillance. Last October, the German Bundestag has…

EFJ affiliates in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia are sending solidarity messages and support with journalists on strike in Macedonia. Please find below the letter sent to SSNM, the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers of Macedonia : Trade unions of journalists of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia express full solidarity and support to SSNM (the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers of Macedonia) and to journalists of Utrinski vesnik, Dnevnik and Vest – three daily papers of the company Media print Macedonia (MPM) – who are in strike since 17 February 2017 due to unpaid salaries, obligatory contributions…

On 27 February 2017, the European Federation of Journalists submitted the following alert to the Council of Europe platform for the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists: On 20 February 2017, two journalists were harassed by far-right wing protesters while reporting live in Thessaloniki, Greece. Maria Travlou, who works for the public broadcaster ERT3, and Eleni Latrou, for the private station Skai TV, were insulted and stopped from doing their job by some men and women part of the so-called “Patriots’ Organisation” demonstrating outside a school. They were preventing refugee children from attending classes. The protesters covered the…

UPDATE (28.02.2017): Deniz Yücel was jailed pending trial on terrorism related charges on Monday 27 February 2017. German daily Die Welt correspondent in Turkey Deniz Yücel was taken into custody on 14 February following reports on Turkish Minister of Energy Albayrak’s hacked emails. Mr Yücel, who holds both Turkish and German citizenship, is accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation, spreading propaganda and misusing information, charges refuted by the defendant as well as media organisations. Since the end of December, six other journalists working for Turkish news outlets have been arrested supposedly in connection to the RedHack leaks.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) backs its Croatian affiliate, the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA), in denouncing the attack against freedom of speech and the rights of ethnic minorities in Croatia. On February 13, the nongovernmental organisation “In the Name of the Family” (U ime obitelji) held a press conference asking for disqualifying the weekly magazine Novosti published by the Serb National Council. On the same day, it sent to the government a document titled “Report on the Abuse of State Budget Funds for the Serbian National Minority”, in which it calls for the criminal prosecution of Novosti’s journalists, editors…