05/04/2018: KAZAKHSTAN- JOURNALISTS ARRESTED

Vienna, 5 April 2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemned today the detention of journalists and editors from webpage Ratel.kz and Forbes Kazakhstan. Journalists Aleksandr Vorotilov from Forbes and Marat Asipov, Sapa Mekebaev and Anna Kalashnikova from Ratel.kz were for several hours detained by the police. Additional the police searched of their homes and newsrooms, and blocked the webpage Ratel.kz. “

Vienna, 5 April 2018

In Montenegro, police are investigating an explosion that destroyed a hired car parked outside the home of TV journalist Sead Sakinović. Two men have been arrested. ECPMF spoke to the journalist. “This is a worrying development in Montenegro, an EU candidate country where the protection of journalists and their right to broadcast critical stories should be taken seriously. We urge the authorities to carry out a swift and thorough investigation,“ says ECPMF’s managing director Lutz Kinkel. Two men have been arrested in connection with the late-night bombing on April 1st. They have been detained for thirty days.

The local police spokesperson said in a statement that the incident is connected to Sead Sadiković’s satirical report on his TV Vijesti series “Bez Granica” (No Limits) about a private museum. The broadcast had provoked strong reactions in social media. Assistant Director of the Police Administration, Enis Bakovic, said the motive for attacking Sadikovic was his work on the “Načisto” (clear) episode of the show about the museum in the town of Rozaj. A statement on the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia’s Safety of Journalists platform says: blockquote “Montenegrin journalists and media workers have been a vulnerable category for a long time and the state has not done enough to prevent attacks or resolve some of the most serious cases of attacks on journalists and media assets. SMCG has repeatedly warned that some of these cases will become time-barred if there is not a timely reaction.

Therefore it is important to quickly and efficiently investigate last night’s explosion in Bijelo Polje in order to prevent this incident from becoming ‘forgotten’.” “Hoping that our colleague Sadiković was not the target of the last night’s attack, although we fear that he was, once again we request from the authorities to inform the public as soon as possible about all circumstances of the explosion.” Oliver Vujovic, general secretary of ECPMF’s partner organisation the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), said: “We need a transparent investigation of this case by the authorities in Montenegro. I hope also that the authorities will re-open investigations of cases of attacks on journalists in Montenegro in the past, where we still do not have answers on who attacked the journalists or ordered the attacks”.

A wave of bombings and killings – believed to be connected to drug deals and some other criminal activities – has swept across Montenegro in recent weeks and years. Pokice chief Slavko Stojanovic resigned on 31st March after two people were shot dead in Podgorica. On 4 April members of civil society organisations demonstrated outside the Ministry of the Interior. The protest was organised by the Network of Non-Governmental Organisations Open Platform. Further demonstrations are planned. Journalist Sead Sadiković spoke to the ECPMF through his son Seid who translated from Croatian into English: Why do you think your were the target for this bomb? For political reasons. The police said they [the alleged perpetrators] were motivated by the TV broadcast he made. But he thinks the attack has a political background, not caused by the TV show. Before the bomb, were there any other warnings or threats? There were, but not too serious. They only said the would avenge their uncle. What ist he general situation like for your father and journalists in Montenegro? Very dangerous, like for most journalists, they are not safe here. There was cases like Tufic Softic and Dusko Jovanovic. In this situation now everything can be used as a reason for an attack on journalists. What would you like to say to the police and the authorities about this situation? It is necessary to find the person who ordered the attack. The persons arrested are only being manipulated. They are just pawns. They are casualties, too. Do you know who ordered the attack? That is someone in the local government. What effect has it had on your family? We are not scared. We are in danger but we are not scared, because if we were scared by this attack, the attack would succeed. We are, I can say, brave. We are holding on in this situation. What about police protection? We reported the earlier threats. The police also work with the persons who attacked us. So there is no point in police protection. Especially the agency for national security. They are doing a political, not a national job. How could we help in the international media community? You could help by presenting this situation to the world, saying how this situation is bad and journalists are threatened every day, and showing the world what happened here.

Vienna, 2 April 2018

The Vienna South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns the attack on journalist Saed Sadikovic in Montenegro. On 1 April a car bomb exploded outside his home in the northern town of Bijelo Polje in Montenegro. No one was injured.

Sadikovic, a reporter with the independent television channel TV Vijesti from Podgorica, received several threats in February relating to a report he published last year.

Vienna, 21 March 2018

According to information before the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) Italian photojournalist, Mauro Donato, who covered the refugee crisis on the ‘Balkan route’, has been arrested in Serbia by the police for allegedly attacking and robbing three migrants.

SEEMO is worried about the arresting of Donato and is asking the Serbian police and courts to work more professional, as it is clear, that Donato was reporting about the refugees and not a criminal. Three alleged victims of the robbery denied that Donato attacked them.

Vienna, 19/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation called on the Tajikistani authorities to release from detention journalists Khayrullo Mirsaidov.

Mirsaidov, a well-known independent journalist and head of a local comedy troupe, was arrested on 5 December 2017 in Tajikistan’s northern Sughd region. He was arrested after having published an appeal to the President of the country Emomali Rahmon, complaining about graft among authorities. Mirsaidov is facing charges of embezzlement of funds, making false accusations, incitement to inter-ethnic, national or religious hatred and falsification.

According to different independent sources, Mirsaidov is the latest victim of the Tajik government’s crackdown on critical voices.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe

Vienna, 15/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemned today a criminal defamation charges with suspended prison sentence to journalist Lukas Milan ( Lukáš Milan) in Slovakia. The sentence is a 18-month imprisonment with three-year condition. Additional the sentence includes a three-year ban on practicing journalism.

The journalist was investigating alleged corruption linked to leading politicians in the country. The charges were based on the story entitled “Kosice’s (Košice’s) Octopus” Milan wrote in 2015 for the Plus 7 Dní magazine. The article was about the Slovak health care system and distributing blood plasma.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe

Vienna, 13/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed critics about behavior of some media and journalists in Serbia.

The co-hosts of a morning TV show made remarks on air, during which he showed a sexist and misogynist attitude towards a much younger female participant of the show. This is not the first time,that such a remark has been made on radio or TV in Serbia.

SEEMO supports the decision of the Serbian Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) which will retroactively take into investigation the indecent behavior.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 13/03/2018

While Kyrgyzstan has generally been a rare positive example in a region where autocracy has been the rule, recent developments threaten to send the country down a similarly repressive path.

TO:

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Legislation, State System, Rule of Law and Human Rights

The Parliamenary Committee on Social Issues, Education, Science, Culture and Health

The undersigned members of IFEX, the global network of organisations working to promote and defend freedom of expression and information worldwide, write to you to express our concern over recent developments regarding the climate for media freedom in Kyrgyzstan.

In particular, we are alarmed at the use of defamation lawsuits to levy disproportionate fines, travel bans and other harsh penalties against journalists and media outlets accused of insulting the President under the ‘Law On Guarantees for Activity of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic’. As obligated by the Law, the General Prosecutor has pursued several lawsuits against individual journalists and media entities on behalf of both the sitting and ex-President, using the far-reaching powers granted him to take legal action against anyone deemed to have “discredited” the “honour and reputation” of the President or former president(s). In addition, a proposed law titled, ‘Amending the Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic’ that was recently approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Science, Culture, and Health, could create further justification for punishing journalists and others on broad and legally ambiguous grounds for exercising their right to free expression.

In a worrying example of the existing Law’s application, in April 2017 a case was brought on behalf of ex-President Almazbek Atambayev against the founders of the popular news site Zanoza.kg, the website itself, and several other affiliated defendants after the publication of an article criticising the arrest of the opposition leader, Omurbek Tekebaev. The attendant proceedings were marred by significant procedural irregularities, circumvention of the pretrial dispute mechanism, and infringement of the defendants’ rights to an adversarial defense. The website and its founders have since been fined 27 million Kyrgyz soms (equivalent to about US$338,000) and face potential prison time for failure to pay within a month. In addition, some of their assets have been frozen and they have been barred from leaving the country. The outrageously large fines, the small window granted to them for payment, along with the irregular trial proceedings make it clear that this is a politically motivated attempt to silence critical reporting through legislative harassment.

Such harassment of journalists and the media has continued into 2018. On 22 February, the Supreme Court upheld a sentence requiring journalist Kabai Karabekov to pay 5 million soms for “offending” the new president, Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Freelance journalist Elnura Alkanova has been charged with “seeking and disclosing confidential commercial information” and also faces a travel ban for an investigative report on the allegedly corrupt sale of government property. The blocking of Fergana News’ website and closure of Sentyabr, a news channel aligned with the opposition, along with both voluntary and forced expulsions of local and foreign journalists alike, including Ulugek Babulakov, Russian journalist Grigoriy Mikhailov and Agence France-Presse’s Chris Rickleton, mark other low points for media freedom in Kyrgyzstan.

Under these circumstances, a new bill that would amend the civil code to establish mandatory compensation for offending the “honour, dignity and business reputation” of all citizens across a broad range of mediums, threatens to create a society-wide threat to free expression.

Such laws contradict internationally recognized standards around defamation and libel laws, which are intended to protect persons from false statements of fact, not feelings or interests. Furthermore, concerning the application of these laws to public officials, The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment 34 makes clear that, “[I]n circumstances of public debate concerning public figures in the political domain and public institutions, the value placed by the Covenant upon uninhibited expression is particularly high. Thus, the mere fact that forms of expression are considered to be insulting to a public figure is not sufficient to justify the imposition of penalties…”

While Kyrgyzstan has generally been a rare positive example in a region where autocracy has been the rule, recent developments threaten to send the country down a similarly repressive path. When small media outlets are forced to shut down due to lawsuits by government officials, this significantly damages freedom of speech in the long term, increases self-censorship in the media, weakens their role in communicating socially significant information to citizens, and can play a role in the overall decline of socioeconomic and political conditions.

Rules and regulations can either enable or hinder the growth of media and restrict or promote particular kinds of content. An empowering legal regime will allow media to cover hard-hitting investigative reports and fulfill their function as a democratic watchdog without fear of legal sanction, making governments more accountable.

For this reason, the undersigned organisations call on the government of Kyrgyzstan to withdraw punitive lawsuits and other restrictions against local journalists and media outlets and review and amend the ‘Law On Guarantees for Activity of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic’ to bring it in line with international standards. We also call on Parliament to reject the legislative amendments contained in the draft law on ‘Amending the Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic’, due to its similar incompatibility with established standards on legal limits to free expression.

Sincerely,

Media Policy Institute
Public Association “Journalists”
Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC)
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
ARTICLE 19
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI)
Center for Independent Journalism – Romania
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Foro de Periodismo Argentino
Freedom Forum
Globe International Center
Independent Journalism Center – Moldova
Index on Censorship
International Press Centre (IPC)
Mediacentar Sarajevo
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Media Watch
Norwegian PEN
Pacific Islands News Association
Pakistan Press Foundation
PEN American Center
PEN International
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
Vigilance for Democracy and the Civic State
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Vienna, 12/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) was relieved to learn that on 9 March, a court in Istanbul ordered the release of two journalists from the governmental-critical paper Cumhuriyet, while anticipating the conclusion of their trial for terror charges.

Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and investigative journalist Ahmet Sik (Ahmet Şık) were freed on bail a year after their initial imprisonment, following the prosecution of the paper´s staff for terror-related charges.

The two men were freed after a day-long hearing by a judge, while the court decided that the paper´s executive board chairman Akin Atalay must remain in custody.

“SEEMO welcomes the decision of the court to temporarily release Sabuncu and Sik and strongly urges authorities in Turkey to drop or revoke all charges brought against them. However, it is difficult to rejoice in their freedom, when over 150 journalists in Turkey remain either behind bars, accused of similar or same charges, or face jail for arbitrary allegations that were meant to silence and censor them. All press workers in Turkey must be given the chance to work freely, without legislative or any other form of intimidation, and without fear that their words and opinions will have them jailed”, said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.