On 4 September 2024 Dutch journalist Vincent van Gerven Oei (Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei – @vangervenoei) was attending the opening of an art gallery in Tirana, Albania, when he became the target of an alleged attempted physical assault and homophobic insults by one Albanian artist.
The attack could be connected to an article Van Gerven Oei had published in May this year on the news portal The Albanian Mechanism (https://thealbanianmechanism.substack.com/). The piece raised concerns about alleged money laundering in Albania.
Van Gerven Oei was previously threatened via social media in response to the article.
On the night of the gallery opening, the situation escalated, allegedly forcing bystanders to intervene and prevent further violence.
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) strongly condemns the threats and allegedly attempted physical assault against Dutch journalist Vincent van Gerven Oei in Albania. Such intimidation, including the use of homophobic slurs, is an attack on press freedom and undermines the safety of journalists. SEEMO urges a thorough investigation and will closely monitor the situation to ensure that journalists in Albania can work without fear of violence or reprisal.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.
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