December 21st, 2011
Hungary’s national media council have
taken the radio frequency from the country’s largest opposition radio station,
Klubradio. Three frequencies were reassigned by the media council, and Klubradio’s frequency was awarded to Autoradio Musorszolgaltato Kft. In a statement issued by email yesterday, the watchdog claimed Autoradio bid “significantly above” the asking price and promised to broadcast more Hungarian music. The decision from the national media council has been described as a “de facto ban” by Andras Arato, Klubradio’s chairman.
Read Mike Harris on Hungary’s alarming new media regulations
September 27th, 2010
The leader of the opposition has been
sentenced to ten years in prison for comments he made about a border dispute with Vietnam. Sam Rainsy, who is currently living in exile in Paris, was convicted in absentia on 23 September, on charges of spreading disinformation and falsifying maps. He had questioned whether the border had been incorrectly marked by the government in favour of Cambodia, and disseminated a map detailing the accusations. Presiding judge Ke Sakhan said that Rainsy’s acts “
seriously affected the honour of the government“. The trial was closed to the public.
March 25th, 2010
Oswaldo Álvarez Paz, former presidential candidate and leader of the Christian Socialist Copei party,
was detained by police on 22 March and has been charged with conspiracy, spreading
false information and publicly inciting violation. The arrest came two weeks after the politician appeared on
Globovision. Álvarez Paz said
at that time that Venezuela had links to illegal armed groups and had become a base for drug trafficking. ”Someone cannot stand up
to defame, to lie, to manipulate in the media here and not have anything happen,” Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said.
