Vienna, 06/12/2015
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed its full support for Gergely Nyilas, a journalist working for the Hungarian news portal Index.
In August 2015, Nylias reported on the treatment of refugees arriving in Hungary. He registered as a refugee from Kyrgistan in order to better understand the situation and story. However, after he revealed this information, he was charged for lying to law enforcement officials and forging official documents. The charges were dropped due to public outcry, but prosecutors still issued a reprimand against the journalist.
Nyilas says that he acted in order to obtain information that was in the public interest. Hungarian authorities countered that Nyilas’ articles do not provide information of vital public interest.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East and Central Europe. SEEMO’s press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commission.