24/08/2017: CROATIA – SEEMO CALLS ON INSTITUTIONS IN CROATIA TO PENALIZE ATTACKER OF JOURNALISTS

Vienna, 24/08/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed concern after it was revealed that in the early morning hours of 23 August, two journalists were attacked while doing their job in the town of Slavonski Brod in eastern Croatia.

Visnja Ruzojcic (Višnja Ružojčić) from the public broadcaster HRT and Aleksandra Primorac from the web portal SBplus were reporting from the scene of an attack that happened on 22 August, where a man was shot for currently unknown reasons and by an unknown perpetrator. The man later died due to the injury.

As the two journalists were reporting from the scene of the crime a day after on 23 August, an individual approached them, began using curse words and tried to violently take the camera out of the hands of Ruzojcic and threatened to smash it. The journalist however held tightly to the camera, so the attacker only partially damaged the microphone.

SEEMO expressed deep condemnation for the incident and called on authorities in Croatia to make their investigation of this case as transparent and swift as possible. It is essential to penalize the attacker who took it upon himself to attempt to physically harm two women who were trying to do their job.

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

Vienna, 17/08/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is alarmed after a new case of attack on journalist in Kosovo.

Parim Olluri, director of the website Insajderi (Insider), was beaten in Pristina by three unknown assailants on Wednesday, 16 August, as he was going home with his partner. He and his partner had to be taken to the hospital.

The attack came after Olluri was reporting about tenders and accusing in his reports some politicians and some former officers of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA- Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës – UCK) of corruption.

“SEEMO is alarmed about threats to journalists in Kosovo. We are asking the authorities in Pristina to investigate this case, as also all unsolved cases of attacks from the past. Only three months ago on 12 May unknown perpetrators attacked Arbana Xharra, former editor-in-chief of the Kosovo daily Zeri on a parking place in front of her home in Pristina. We have in our database 22 cases of threats, pressures or attacks on journalist and media workers in Kosovo in 2016. Kosovo authorities must better protect journalists”, SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said.

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

Vienna, 14/08/2017

The South East European Media Organisation (SEEMO) was disturbed to learn about a new pressure on journalist in Belarus.

Twp legal cases against journalist Katsyaryna Andreyeva were published in connection to her reporting from a protest rally on 3 July and a celebration on 29 July. The date of her trial is not yet known.

According to the charges Andreyeva allegedly made a news item for the Belsat TV, although the channel has not aired a report from her. She was only streaming the event.

In May, a Minsk court fined Andreyeva 1,035 BYN for violation of Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code.

The South East Europe Media Organisation expressed deep concern for the overall state of media freedoms in Belarus. SEEMO members call on institutions in the country to drop all charges against journalists in Belarus.

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

Vienna, 12/08/2017

By Katya Konradova

A Pit for Kyrgyzstan’s Independent Press

“New moves against opposition politicians and the press are meant to scare the last bastion of Kyrgyzstan’s civil society into submission,” writes Naryn Idinov, the former chief editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE) Kyrgyz service and the former director of the Kabar information agency in Bishkek, in his article for OpenDemocracy.net.1 He makes this statement only three months before news of his trial for allegedly smearing the President of Kyrgyzstan appears in the newsfeed of almost every major international media watchdog organization on 30 June 2017.
In late March 2017, Idinov, also known by the name of Naryn Aiyp, was taken to court along with his colleague, editor Dina Maslova, at the news website ProMedia, which they co-founded and is responsible for running the news agency Zanoza.kg. A former parliament member, Cholpon Dzhakupova, was also taken to court. Following the court order, the media organizations’ bank accounts were frozen. A lien was also placed on Idinov’s apartment and the journalist himself was banned from leaving the country. A total of six offending articles, which reported on President Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev’s alleged involvement in corruption and criticized his treatment of opposition leaders, were banned from being viewed by the public.

Dzhakupova was accused of defaming President Atambayev during a roundtable discussion hosted by the office of the Ombudsman, during which she said that he was a “personality with maniacal inclinations.” The remarks were published by Zanoza.kg on 30 March 2017. Dzhakupova is the head of the Legal Clinic ‘Adilet,’ a robust Kyrgyz human rights organization that provides free access to legal assistance for vulnerable groups of population, as well as works to improve the legal culture in Kyrgyzstan. According to RSF, five complaints in total were filed against Zanoza and its co-founders.2 The prosecutors sought a total of 27 million Kyrgyz KGS (about €339,000) in moral compensation to be paid to President Almazbek Atambayev. The Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg reported on 5 July 2017 that the court found all the defendants guilty of the above mentioned charges and ordered Zanoza.kg and its founders Idinov and Maslova to pay a fine of 24 million KGS, as well as to recover 3 million KGS from Dzhakupova.3

The defendants and their lawyers complained that too many trials had been scheduled during a very short time frame, making it difficult for them to adequately prepare for the hearings.

It would seem that even in rising democracies like Kyrgyzstan, struggling against an opponent as powerful as the head of the country is futile, yet leading media professionals in Kyrgyzstan resist curbing their activity and voice their concern that authorities will keep tightening their control over the exchange of information in the months leading up to the presidential election on 19 November 2017. Recent events leave many wondering—and rightfully—about the state of press freedom in the country.

In his 15 March speech this year, President Atambayev claimed that the state imposes no limitation on news reporting in the Kyrgyz media.4 He assured the assembly, made up of ambassadors of Côte d’Ivoire, Latvia, Ethopia, India, and Afghanistan, that with regard to freedom of speech, Kyrgyzstan occupies a leading position among the countries in Central Asia.

Analyses of media freedom in Kyrgyzstan from independent watchdog organizations generally support President Atambayev’s claim; nonetheless, they point out the growing polarization of Kyrgyz society and its effects on media environment in the country, as well as a great deal of self-censorship and ethnic, political, and regional biases. The Freedom House Freedom of the Press Ranking has been consistent in assigning Kyrgyzstan a status of “Not Free” since the launching of the project in 2002, with the country receiving a total score of 67/100 in 2017. Kyrgyzstan’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) dropped from 85th in 2016 to 89th out of 180 countries in 2017. For reference, the neighbouring countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan are currently ranked as 157th, 169th, and 149th, respectively.

According to Atambayev, heavy fines and imprisonment are effective penalties for libel in what he calls “the civilized world,” referring to countries such as the United States, France, or Denmark. He thus denied taking inspiration from Kyrgyzstan’s neighbouring dictatorships. Taking financial responsibility for their “outright demagoguery,” he said, is the least journalists can do, being incapable of moral reflection.

Among the accusations made by Atambayev during his speech was that RFE/RL receives generous funding from the U.S. Congress and its budget reaches hundreds of millions of dollars, in response to which RFE/RL reported that its Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk (Liberty), is only one of its 26 language services and its 2016 budget amounted to 108.4 million USD.

RFE/RL became a target of President Atambayev’s diatribe after the political turmoil in Kyrgyzstan in February 2017. Earlier this year, Atambayev filed two complaints against Azattyk, accusing it of slander following February reports on detention of the leader of the opposition Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, Omurbek Tekebaev.5 Hundreds of opposition supporters, including former President Roza Otunbaeva, gathered in Bishkek on 26 February 2017 to protest what they saw as unlawful and politically motivated persecution. He was investigated on charges of corruption. A lawyer for the Ata-Meken party asserted that Tekebaev’s detention was meant to prevent him from disclosing information about a Turkish cargo plane that crashed near Bishkek on 16 January 2017 and killed all four crew members and 35 people on the ground. He allegedly had in his possession documents proving that the cargo belonged to high state officials in Bishkek. Still others believe that the charges were made against Tekebaev, who was named as his party’s presidential candidate on 5 March 2017 in order to prevent him from running for president.

In his 24 March this year speech in Bishkek, Atambayev said he would complain about Azattyk’s activity to U.S. President Donald Trump.6 He also threatened to take RFE/RL to international courts to show them a “good lesson,” but the charges against Azattyk were dropped in May, following a meeting of President Atambayev with RFE/RL President Thomas Kent on March 30. According to Ferghana News Agency, the presidential press service informed that the decision to drop the charges was made after experts noted “the quality improvement in coverage of events by the ‘Azattyk’ radio,” invoking again Kyrgyzstan’s commitment to upholding media freedom in the country.7

Alleged foreign support to RFE/RL was not the only apparent thorn in President Atambayev’s side. He expressed fears that other journalists in Kyrgyzstan instigate negative attitudes toward their motherland in exchange for foreign money, suspecting them of carrying foreign passports or residence permits while hypocritically referring to themselves as Kyrgyz nationals.

This anti-foreign sentiment is reminiscent of Kyrgyzstan’s long-standing ethnic issues. Ethnic Uzbeks represent a significant minority in the country, with most of them being concentrated in the western and southern parts of Kyrgyzstan, mainly the Ferghana valley and the three provinces of Batken, Osh, and Jalal-Abad. Despite being largely excluded from taking part in the country’s decision-making, Uzbeks have been feared for their potential to eventually exert enough pressure on the Kyrgyz government and achieve political and linguistic autonomy. In the past, these tensions have escalated into violent outbreaks. On May 23 of this year, Ulugbek Babakulov, an independent Kyrgyz journalist who also contributes to Zanoza.kg, published an article on the regional news website Fergana, in which he criticized Kyrgyz-language social media posts for using ethnic slurs and inciting hatred and violence against ethnic Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan.8 The article quotes several posts made by users who often claim to be university graduates and urge others to expel or even liquidate Kyrgyzstan’s largest ethnic minority. As a closing remark, Babakulov speculates that he may become the target of a similar wave of criticism coming from nationalist press and social media users as a result of publishing his article, a prediction that has come true with a more serious twist.

On 1 June 2017, CPJ reported that Babakulov had been under pressure from lawmakers and pro-government media and even received death threats on social media in retaliation for his article.9 On 27 May OTRK, a major Kyrgyz TV channel, aired a report accusing Babakulov, ironically, of inciting inter-ethnic hatred in his Ferghana article.10 The report argued that as a trained professional, Babakulov knew that social media posts are written by people with questionable credentials, and thus his decision to concentrate on this heavily biased medium speaks to his lack of journalistic professionalism, as well as demonstrates a malicious intent to “disseminate provocative materials” and stir up separatist emotions that are still lingering in society after the 2010 bloody conflict between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan. Ainura Arzymatova, a historian at Kyrgyz National University, stated that “people like Babakulov… are just enemies of Kyrgyzstan,” further reiterating the claim made by the presenter of the TV channel that Babakulov attempted to present the country as a “fascist state, whose population is completely nationalist.” As a response, members of the parliament suggested stripping Babakulov of his citizenship. To escape public outrage and legal charges, Babakulov fled the country on June 8, and the Ferghana news website was blocked on 10 June 2017, RFE/RL reported.11

Babakulov was among the journalists Atambayev addressed specifically in his 15 March speech, urging them to stop “betraying” the country. Other media professionals denounced as “pseudojournalists” by the head of the state included Daniil Kislov, the chief editor of Ferghana News, or the very Naryn Idinov, who reacted to Atambayev’s accusations with a detailed account of the recent persecution of media in his March 30 article on openDemocracy.net.12 The President, Idinov lamented, has been frequently backed up by EU officials, whose reports praise Kyrgyzstan’s progress toward democracy and appear ridiculous against the backdrop of the disturbingly high number of defamation suits, verbal assaults and other forms of harassment from institutions and officials in the past several months. Such inaccurate reports, he warned, may undermine local journalists’ struggle for an open, uncensored media environment in Kyrgyzstan.

On 27 June only two days before the trial against ProMedia and Idinov, the European Union held the 8th round of their annual Human Rights Dialogue with Kyrgyzstan in Brussels.13 According to the official report, the “open and constructive discussion” covered a broad range of issues, including the prevention of torture, protection of the rights of women and children, and fight against corruption. The EU called on Kyrgyz authorities to maintain media freedom in order to ensure transparency in the upcoming presidential elections in October. The report does not indicate whether the EU demanded that Kyrgyzstan take responsibility for the recent press freedom violations.

EU’s Human Rights Dialogue was not the only occasion of apparent neglectful inspection from leading international organizations. In June, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres received criticism from Human Rights Watch for failing to address important human rights issues, including recent attacks on Kyrgyz media, during his tour of five Central Asian countries. In his opening remarks at a press conference with President Atambayev, Guterres praised Kyrgyzstan as a “pioneer of democracy” and a prime example of a commitment to protection of human rights both regionally and abroad.14

“In regions like Central Asia,” writes Hugh Williamson, the Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, “the UN should state clearly that ending human rights abuses is an integral part of wider development and security strategies.”15

The UN has previously criticized Kyrgyz authorities for their imprisonment of ethnic Uzbek journalist and human rights activist Azimjon Askarov. In September 2010, he was detained and sentenced to life in prison on charges of assisting in the murder of a police officer and inciting ethnic hatred during the 2010 ethnic clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in southern Kyrgyzstan, which left more than 420 people dead and thousands fleeing the terror to largely mono-ethnic areas. The verdict was reinstated by the court on January 24 this year, despite the UN Human Rights Committee urging Kyrgyzstan to release Askarov after it was found that he was tortured and denied a fair trial in what the UN, as well as the jailed activist, saw as a politically motivated act.16 Askarov is the founder of the human rights organization Vozdukh (Air) and has worked to investigate and report cases of police abuse and poor prison conditions.

Whatever the reason for the President’s onslaught against opposition voices, it is clear that he is not targeting independent outlets to maintain his leadership of the country, according to Daniil Kislov from Ferghana News.17 Atambayev has served a six-year term since 2011, but under the 2010 constitution, he is barred from running for re-election. The December 2016 referendum, however, increased the power and independence of the Prime Minister significantly. This fact causes some to suspect that he may attempt to continue to remain in power by either becoming the next prime minister or installing a political ally in this newly reformed post. As Kislov and others make rather grim predictions for the next stage of Kyrgyzstan’s history, it is yet to be seen whether Kyrgyzstan will live up to the expectations set by international institutions and continue paving the way to democracy in Central Asia.

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1 Aiyp, N. (2017, March 30). “Inciters, deceivers, slaves”: Kyrgyzstan’s president takes aim at the press. OpenDemocracy. Retrieved from https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/naryn-aiyp/inciters-deceivers-slaves-kyrgyzstan-s-president-takes-aim-at-press
2 RSF calls for end to prosecutions of Kyrgyz media and journalists. (2017, June 23). Retrieved from https://rsf.org/en/news/rsf-calls-end-prosecutions-kyrgyz-media-and-journalists
3 Kudryavtseva, T. (2017, July 5). Million-som suits against media – wish to dispose of disloyal outlets. 24.kg. Retrieved from https://24.kg/english/56777_Million-som_suits_against_media_-_wish_to_dispose_of_disloyal_outlets/
4 Алмазбек Атамбаев: “Эй, смотрели на себя в зеркало, чтобы читать нам наставления? Помалкиваете там, а здесь вольничаете?”. (2017, March 15). Gezitter.org. Retrieved from http://www.gezitter.org/politic/58433_almazbek_atambaev_ey_smotreli_na_sebya_v_zerkalo_chtobyi_chitat_nam_nastavleniya_pomalkivaete_tam_a_zdes_volnichaete/
5 Kyrgyz President ‘Ready’ To Take RFE/RL Lawsuit To ‘International Courts’. (2017, March 24). RFE/RL. Retrieved from https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-atambaev-ready-to-take-rferl-lawsuit-international-courts/28389282.html
6 Kyrgyz President ‘Ready’ To Take RFE/RL Lawsuit To ‘International Courts’. (2017, March 24). RFE/RL. Retrieved from https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-atambaev-ready-to-take-rferl-lawsuit-international-courts/28389282.html
7 Kyrgyzstan: Almazbek Atambayev suggested Prosecutor General’s Office withdrawing claims against ‘Azattyk’ radio. (2017, May 12). Ferghana News. Retrieved from http://enews.fergananews.com/news.php?id=3337
8 Люди как звери. В киргизском сегменте соцсетей звучат призывы к расправе над «сартами». (2017, May 23). Ferghana News. Retrieved from http://www.fergananews.com/articles/9421
9 Kyrgyz journalist receives death threats. (2017, June 1). Retrieved from https://cpj.org/x/6cf2
10 Kyrgyzstan major TV channel: Block Fergana and journalist Ulugbek Babakulov is enemy of people. (2017, May 29). Ferghana News. Retrieved from http://enews.fergananews.com/articles/3019
11 Journalist Charged With Inciting Hatred Says He Fled Kyrgyzstan. (2017, June 12). Retrieved from https://www.rferl.org/a/fergana-website-blocked-kyrgyzstan-hatred-charge/28542352.html
12 Aiyp, N. (2017, March 30). “Inciters, deceivers, slaves”: Kyrgyzstan’s president takes aim at the press. OpenDemocracy. Retrieved from https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/naryn-aiyp/inciters-deceivers-slaves-kyrgyzstan-s-president-takes-aim-at-press
13 European External Action Service (EEAS), Headquarters. (2017, June 27). 8th EU-Kyrgyz Republic Human Rights Dialogue [Press release]. Retrieved from https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en/29045/8th%20EU-Kyrgyz%20Republic%20Human%20Rights%20Dialogue
14 Guterres, A. (n.d.). Opening remarks at press conference with President Almazbek Atambaev of Kyrgyzstan. Speech. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2017-06-11/secretary-general%E2%80%99s-press-remarks-kyrgyz-president-atambaev
15 Williamson, H. (2017, June 15). UN Secretary-General Fails to Speak Up for Rights in Central Asia. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/15/un-secretary-general-fails-speak-rights-central-asia
16 Azimjan Askarov verdict in Kyrgyzstan ‘deeply troubling’ – Zeid. (2017, January 24). United Nations Human Rights – Office of the High Commissioner. Retrieved from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21113&LangID=E
17 Said, G. (2017, March 28). In pivotal election year Kyrgyz media face verbal assaults from president and legal action. Retrieved from https://cpj.org/blog/2017/03/in-pivotal-election-year-kyrgyz-media-face-verbal-.php

Vienna, 10/08/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation. (SEEMO) expressed dismay after learning that Turkish authorities have issued 35 detention warrants against journalists and media workers, who are accused of having ties with U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The detention warrants have been issued today. Previously police forces carried out raids in Istanbul and detained nine people, including the editor of the daily Birgün, Burak Ekici. According to Ekici police also seized his mobile phone and laptop.

Arrested journalists are accused of using an encrypted messaging app, which authorities claim is “a common way Gullen supporters use to communicate amongst themselves”. They are also suspected of allegedly “being a part of a terrorist organisation”.

SEEMO once again expressed deep concern for the safety of all journalists and media workers in Turkey. SEEMO also urges the authorities to release all journalists and media workers in the country who have been arrested.

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

Vienna, 09/08/2017

The South East European Media Organisation (SEEMO) was disturbed to learn about an attack and new pressure against independent Belarusian journalist Kanstantyn Zhukouski (Konstantin Zhukovski).

According to information SEEMO received Zhukouski was attacked on 8 August on a pig farm. After the attack Zhukouski spent the night in s hospital.

Additional to this attack, freelancer Zhukouski was accused again of violating Article 22.9, part 2 of the Belarus Code on Administrative Violations, after his footage about the worsening ecological conditions and air pollution present on a pig breeding farm was used in a report. The piece was published by the Belsat TV channel. Zhukouski has been fined in the past years many times for contribution of his material to Belsat. Only in this year he was punished six times (in total 5,865 BYN).

According to the authorities, he is reporting without an “accreditation for foreign press”.

Art. 22.9 envisage liability for “illegal production and distribution of mass media products”. In the past years a numerous of freelancers have been held responsible for their work for violating art. 22.9, some of them have been fined several times.
The South East Europe Media Organisation expressed deep concern for the overall state of media freedoms in Belarus. SEEMO members call on institutions in the country to drop all charges against Zhukouski and all other journalists.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 09/08/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed condemnation after a journalist from Banja Luka receives death threat.

Journalist Dragan Bursac (Dragan Bursać) received a death threat after an article he wrote was published and later shared on Facebook. The article deals with the siege of the Bosnian-Herzegovina town Bihac (Bihać), during the war in 1990s, and is titled “I was silent while Bihac was shelled”.

As the the Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety reported, after Bursac published his article an inadmissible reaction was followed via Facebook where a person wrote a bunch of very disturbing abominations which end up with words “you will not hold your head on your shoulders, I can promise you that”.

The journalist has faced three death threats and verbal abuse in the last year.

SEEMO is asking the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to protect better journalists in the country. SEEMO welcomes also the prompt reaction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska, who arrested a person who threatened Bursac.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe and its 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.

Vienna, 03/08/2017

After two months of investigation, the public prosecutor of Bulgaria’s Dupnitsa region concluded that arsonists who gutted the car of award-winning investigative journalist Lidia Pavlova were persons unknown, and closed the probe. Pavlova’s family car was set on fire on 25 May, 2012 in the town of Dupnitsa, where she resides. The incident marked the second time her car had been destroyed. Her 22-year-old son, Ivan, who has been attacked several times, reportedly as a form of pressure on Pavlova, was driving the car on the night of the latest incident.

When she learned that yet another aggression would go unpunished, Pavlova said, as quoted by the Sofia-based daily 24 Tchassa, “I know who ordered and executed the latest attacks.” She claims to have a witness who is too scared to testify in front of the police.

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on Bulgaria’s authorities to reopen the case and investigate all attacks against Pavlova, who specialises in investigating organised crime in southwest Bulgaria. She formerly worked for the Blagoevgrad-based daily Struma, and is currently editor-in-chief of the regional daily Vjara. Pavlova has investigated the so-called “Galevi brothers”, local businessmen who have been the subject of several criminal trials. As SEEMO reported, she has received a number of threats since trials against the Galevi brothers and their alleged accomplices began.

In November 2008, her son Ivan Pavlov was beaten and his eardrum was broken after he supposedly spilled water on the shoe of a bodyguard of the Galevi brothers. After a two month detention, the bodyguard received a conditional sentence.

On 16 May, 2009, hours after the initial trial against the Galevi brothers and their alleged accomplices commenced, the rear windshield of Pavlova’s car was smashed and police found a bullet inside the car.

On 1 January, 2010, an assailant severely beat Ivan Pavlov at a local establishment where the young man was celebrating the New Year with his girlfriend. Ivan Pavlov sustained severe injuries to the head and spent three days in the intensive care unit of the local hospital following the assault. The perpetrator was detained, and convicted.

On 22 January, 2010, someone slashed the tires of Lidia Pavlova’s company care. The windshield of her car was smashed several times during that year as well as in 2011, but Pavlova did not report all the incidents. She also did not report the burning of her mailbox on 27 May, 2012.

Pavlova is the recipient of a 2010 SEEMO-CEI Special Diploma for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism and the 2009 Award for Courage in Journalism presented by the WAZ Media Group and the International Federation of Journalists.

So far, most reported attacks and threats against Pavlova have gone unpunished. In fact, combating organised crime is proving a challenge to Bulgaria. A European Commission report (REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL: On Progress in Bulgaria under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism) stated in July 2012: “Systemic failures in law enforcement were recently demonstrated after two prominent convicts escaped enforcement of their prison sentence. The Bulgarian authorities failed to apprehend some of the most senior criminals of the country after an announced verdict was handed down by court. This must be seen as a major failure of the system.”

SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said: “In April 2012, a SEEMO delegation met Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Bulgaria’s minister of the interior and deputy prime minister and raised concerns regarding Pavlova’s safety. The minister said he believed that another incident with Lidia Pavlova would not happen due to the high-profile nature of the trial against the Galevi brothers. I hope that Minister Tzvetanov, in cooperation with the ministry of justice, reopens the investigation, and all the perpetrators of different attacks against Pavlova are found and brought to justice.”

Vienna, 03/08/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed concern after it was informed by the Belgrade publishing house Adria Media Group (AMG) that on 1 August the Serbian edition of Newsweek magazine would cease all publishing.

As the AMG reporter, this media company is since months under strong pressure by the officials in Serbia. Also as the AMG reported, company bank accounts were frozen in July.

“The fact is that the media market in Serbia is politically controlled directly or over advertising. We are missing independent professional media in Serbia, and Newsweek Serbia was one of few professional media on the market”, Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO secretary general said.

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

Vienna, 01/08/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed concern after it was revealed that a journalist in Azerbaijan was sentenced to three years and three months of imprisonment after having spent almost a year incarcerated since his arrest in August 2016.

Faig Amirli, director of Azadliq newspaper, was sentenced on charges of allegedly inciting religious hatred, as well as tax evasion. Aside from his jail term, Amirli was ordered to pay a penalty of 39,050 AZN (approximately 20,000 EUR).

Amirli was sentenced by a court in Baku on 24 July, despite indications that during the investigation against him and the subsequent trial the prosecution could not actually prove any of the allegations against him

Amirli was sentenced by a court in Baku on 24 July, despite indications that during the investigation against him and the subsequent trial the prosecution could not actually prove any of the allegations against him.

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