Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Nikolay Andruschenko, an investigative correspondent for weekly newspaper Novyi Petersburg died on 19 April after being subjected to two brutal assaults in March, Open Russia reported. Alevtina Ageyeva, the director of Novyi Peterburg, told Mapping Media Freedom that on 9 March, two unknown individuals approached him near his house and demanded that he hand over documents and materials relating to an ongoing investigation into abuse of power by police officers.
When Andruschenko refused to cooperate, they hit him several times in the head and ran away. The journalist refused to file a complaint to the police.
The second assault took place a few days later. According to Ageyeva, she was called by the Mariinskaya hospital and told that Nikolay Andruschenko was in a critical state and being treated in the intensive care unit. He was found unconscious with a brain injury near his apartment.
Despite undergoing surgery he never recovered.
Although the local police have opened an investigation, Ageyeva doubts it will be conducted properly because of Andruschenko’s history of investigating cases of police corruption.
She is convinced that both assaults are related to Andruschenkov’s work as an investigative reporter.
Two reporters for Buzzfeed News, David Perrotin and Paul Aveline, were physically prevented filming a meeting with French presidential candidate Francois Fillon on 17 April. The journalists were filming two people who had interrupted Fillon’s meeting by shouting “Give the money back!” and were detained by the police when members of the candidate’s security staff physically prevented them from filming. Guards first grabbed David Perrotin, pulling him by the collar, physically threatened him and demanded that he delete his video. A fuard then grabbed Aveline’s phone to prevent him from filming the scene. At this point, according to Buzzfeed, a member of Fillon team said: “Throw them out.” It was only when the two journalists said they would write an article on the incidents that the members of the security team stopped threatening them.
During the same meeting, journalist Hortense Gerard, who works for BFMTV, was spat on. She later tweeteda photo of her sleeve covered in spit.
Independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has received “direct threats addressed to its journalists” following publications on harassment of gay people in Chechnya according to a statementthey released.
It says: “On 1 April 2017, Novaya Gazeta wrote on mass detainment and torture of Chechen residents who were suspected of being homosexual. We know the names of three persons murdered and we know that the number of those who were killed is much higher.(…)”
The backlash in Chechnya has left the entire staff of the newspaper fearful, the Guardian reported.
According to official data, on 3 April around 15,000 people attended an urgent meeting of representatives from the republic’s Muslim communities in the central mosque in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.
During the meeting, Adam Shakhidov, an adviser to the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly accused the editorial staff of Novaya Gazeta of defamation and called them “enemies of our religion and our motherland”. This was broadcast live by a local TV channel and led to aggressive comments on social media.
After the meeting, a resolution was accepted. The second paragraph states the following: “The centuries-old traditions of Chechen society, the dignity of Chechen men, and our faith have all been insulted, and we promise that those behind it will face reprisals, whoever they are and wherever they are.”
Novaya Gazeta has called on the Russian authorities to prevent the hate speech directed at journalists for doing their jobs. When Novaya Gazeta’s statement was published online, its website crashed and staff are convinced this was due to a DDoS attack.
The backlash was sparked by an 1 April story from reporter Elena Milashina and her colleague Irina Gordienko. In March, Milashina had discovered evidence that gay men were being detained, tortured and even killed in an anti-homosexual purge in Chechnya.
Milashina spoketo The Washington Post on Friday 14 April from an undisclosed location and said she was thinking of leaving the country because of safety concerns.
Unidentified assailants shot at journalists from investigative program Slidstvo.Info on 14 April. The journalists were filming the estate of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov around Kyiv, the Institute of Mass Information reported.
“Our reporters Maxim Opanasenko and Kirill Shapar were filming a new estate near Kyiv which belongs to Rinat Akhmetov,” Slidstvo.Info reported.
Unidentified individuals shot a meter and a half above the car where Slidstvo.Info journalists were seated, Maxim Opanasenko told IMI. “I didn’t see the gunman. We suspect this was intended to scare us because they saw our drone,” the journalist said.
He added that the journalists are planning to investigate who the shooters were. No journalists were injured according to the IMI report.
Journalist and publisher Kostas Vaxevanis was arrested following a libel lawsuit against him filed by Lina Nikolopoulou, who is married to Bank of Greece Governor Yiannis Stournaras, Naftemporiki newspaper reported.
On 9 April Vaxevanis published an article in the weekly newspaper Documento about Nikolopoulou, who he claimed had received up to €400,000 of state money for medical and pharmaceutical lobbying and conference work and Stournaras presence in these conferences as a lecturer.
Vaxevanis alleges that contracts for these services were awarded to Nikolopoulou without being offered for public tender.
“The Stournaras family is not struggling in a legal battle, as it pretends. Mr and Mrs Stournaras struggle for their survival. They are trying to cover the way they act and operate,” Vaxevanis wrote in a statement asking for support.
The party leading the Greek government, Syriza, issued a statement stressing that the lawsuit “directly challenges journalism and press freedom” and adding that “the report raises some critical questions about the public health area, which require serious and documented answers”.
Vaxevanis was released later the same day. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1493112590515-3ca2c0ad-ff59-8″ taxonomies=”6564″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Russian and international journalists who were covering anti-corruption protests that took place across Russia on Sunday 26 March 2017 were among those detained as police moved to disperse demonstrators.
The protests erupted following allegations of hidden assets amassed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. A video detailing the investigation conducted by the Russian NGO Anti-corruption Foundation attracted nearly 20 million views and caused a wave of public indignation.
Alexey Navalny, an opposition political activist and co-founder of the NGO, had called for demonstrations, which took place in nearly 100 cities. Initiative groups in Moscow and other cities supported the protest and called on local members to participate. As a result, meetings took place in 98 cities from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad. In 30 cities, the protests were broken up by the police, who detained many and reportedly committed human rights violations. According to OVD-Info, a website that monitors police detainments, in Moscow alone there more than 1,000 people detained, with around 150 detained in Makhachkala and 130 in Saint Petersburg. Some detainees in Moscow spent two nights in custody while waiting for court hearings.
In Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Makhachkala, Petrozavodsk and Saratov, journalists were detained and harassed by the police among protesters.
Moscow police detained RBC correspondent Timofey Dzyadko, Mediazona publisher Piotr Verzilov, correspondent for Open Russia website Sofiko Arifdzhanova, Public Television of Russia journalist Olga Orlova, Echo of Moscow journalist Alexandr Pluschev and Pyotr Parkhomenko of Kommersant-FM. They all spent 3-4 hours in police stations and were released after intervention by their employers.
The owner and editor of the infotainment website gagster.ru Vladimir Stolyarov was detained at his home during the Moscow demonstration for posting, according to his brother, “a link to the live stream of the protest actions and organized streaming on this website”.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1490969733608{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/MMF_report_2016_WEB-1-1A.jpg?id=85872) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Guardian correspondent Alec Luhn was among those detained by police officers as he took a picture of someone being detained at protests in Moscow. Luhn told Mapping Media Freedom: “I was charged with the administrative violation of holding an unsanctioned rally even though I repeatedly said I was a journalist and showed police my accreditation from the foreign ministry.”
He was brought to a police station where he spent more than five hours. “The police didn’t care about the legality of their actions and were very glib, refusing to answer for hours why I was being detained.” In an earlier Twitter post Luhn said police told him: “Maybe you are accused of killing Kennedy.”
“This lack of respect for the press is shocking, but even more shocking is their willingness to roughly detain so many peaceful protesters,” Luhn said. He spoke of a 15-year-old who probably had his nose broken after being kicked in the face by police.
Vladimir Suvorov, a photographer for the Russian website Life, was injured in Moscow when he was hit by a bottle thrown as police moved to arrest demonstrators.
In Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia, a police officer hit Aleksey Alekseyev, correspondent for local news website Chernika, in the face, breaking his glasses, and took his phone. Alekseyev, who was wearing a press badge, was then detained and spent several hours in the police station. His smartphone was returned. The Union of Journalists of the Republic of Karelia made a special statement condemning the violent detention of Alekseyev.
In Saint Petersburg, police officers detained Novaya Gazeta correspondent Sergey Satanovski and confiscated his journalist ID. Police said later that the credential was lost during the administrative process. Satanovski reported that police had used force on detainees during their detention. The editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta’s Saint Petersburg edition Diana Kachalova, stated she would appeal to the prosecutor on his case.
Artyom Aleksandrov, a correspondent for Delovoy Petersburg, and Roman Pimenov, a correspondent for Interpress, and Aleksandr Petrosyan and Nadezhda Zaitseva, journalists working for the Vedomosti business newspaper were also detained in Saint Petersburg.
A special police unit officer told Violetta Ryabko, Saint Petersburg correspondent for Deutsche Welle, to leave the scene: “Get away from here with your camera”.
In Makhachkala, the capital of the Republic of Dagestan, several journalists were brought to the police station, including Kommersant correspondent Sergey Rasulov, Makhachkala correspondent for Kavkazskaya Politika Faina Kachabekova and Eto Kavkaz correspondent Vladimir Sevrinovski.
In Saratov, Aleksandr Nikishin, a journalist for news agency Svobodnye Novosti and TV presenter of Open Channel, was detained after the protest.
A Saratov court found Nikishin, who is also a member of the public monitoring committee, guilty of disobeying police referring to the fact that he was “holding the door” when trying to enter police department. Nikishin was sentenced to four days in jail.
The court refused to use a video of his forced detention as evidence in the the trial.
“In detaining so many peaceful protesters, Russia is in clear violation of its human rights commitments,” Katie Morris of human rights NGO Article 19 told Mapping Media Freedom. Morris said that Russia is obliged to facilitate peaceful protest and journalists covering demonstrations should get increased protections.
“By arresting journalists, the Russian authorities are seeking to limit the spread of news about the protests in independent media and online,” she said.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Each week, Index on Censorship’sMapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Independent journalist Elchin Ismayilli, who used to contribute to Cumhuriyet newspaper and Azerbaijani Saadi, was detained on 17 February on charges of extortion through intimidation and abuse of power, reported Azadliq Radio. According to the journalist’s lawyer, Ismayilli is being charged for threatening an employee of the local culture and tourism department. The journalist says the allegations are not true. A month before, Ismayilli asked to borrow 1000AZN from the person who is allegedly accusing him of extortion. He was detained when picking up the money. During a meeting with his lawyer, he explained he had known this individual since 2003 and that they had good relations. In September he received a warning from the police on was called into questioning for allegedly assaulting an officer. The journalist ties both incidents to his work.
The French police prevented freelance journalist Alexis Kraland from accessing a demonstration in Place de la République, in Paris, on 18 February, the journalist reported on Twitter and confirmed to Mapping Media Freedom. Kraland was intending to cover a protest in solidarity with a young man called Theo, who was allegedly raped during a violent police arrest. The police asked the journalist for his press card which is not necessary to cover a demonstration as a journalist, Kraland told Mapping Media Freedom.
The Federal Migration Service won its case against Demyan Kudryavtsev, owner of Independent Media, on 21 February, Vedomosti reported. “It has been established that false data was deliberately submitted in this citizenship application. The Supreme Court acknowledged this”, the court’s press service stated. FMS did not receive all the necessary data in the application submitted in 2009, Kudryavtsev told Novaya Gazeta. The President or FMS is now able to deprive him of his citizenship based on the court decision. New amendments to a 2014 law by the State Duma prohibit foreigners from establishing and owning more than 20 per cent of any Russian media outlet. If Kudryavtsev is deprived of his Russian citizenship, he will not be able to continue owning Vedomosti and other outlets under the Independent Media umbrella. Hannah Machlin, project officer of the Mapping Media Freedom project, said: “The decision to take away Kudrayastev’s passport will affect the legality of his ownership of media outlets Vedmosti and the Moscow Times, making it a clear violation to press freedom”.
Özgür Gelecek daily’s Newsroom Editor Aslı Ceren Aslan was arrested on 21 February in Şanlıurfa province, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported. Aslan, who was detained on 18 February, was allegedly subjected to physical violence and strip searched twice during her detention and arrest. Özgür Gelecek reported that Aslan was in Şanlıurfa to report on the recent developments in Syria at the time of her detention. According to reports, the journalist was arrested on charges of “belonging to a terrorist organisation” and “violating Turkish borders.” Her arrest brings the number of journalists in Turkish prisons to 154.
Boris Pejovic, a photographer for daily newspaper Vijesti, was insulted and pushed during a brawl on 15 February between MPs from the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists and the opposition Democratic Front in the Parliament of Montenegro, daily newspaper Vijesti reported. As Vijesti reported, MPs and Parliament security pushed and insulted Pejovic. Opposition leaders and supporters protested in front of Montenegro’s parliament after the ruling majority stripped two MPs of their immunity from prosecution over their alleged involvement in a coup attempt, Balkan Insight reported. The incident was strongly condemned by the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (SMCG).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
After passing a law issued by the interior ministry, Turkey has shut down and arrested members of approximately 370 independent organisations, including many media platforms.
A full list of these organisations is unavailable since the Turkish government claims some cases are still under investigation.
Since the state of emergency declared by Turkey this summer after the attempted military coup, the government has been shutting down media and civil organisations. Some of the organisations recently shut down have been the Dokuz8 News Site, Free Women’s Congress, the Kurdish Writers’ Association and the Fair Women’s Association.
Turkey has declared that all these independent organisations are allegedly linked to terror groups.
One organisation to fall victim to Turkey’s crackdown was the Cumhuriyet Foundation, a secular, liberal media platform. Nine journalists for Cumhuriyet, as well as the president of the executive board, Akın Atalay, were arrested within the past several weeks. They were charged with terrorism, the government saying that although the journalists were not official members of the terrorist group they engaged in activities for the organisation.
The arrest of the Cumhuriyet journalists raises the number of jailed journalists to 144.
Les Jours journalist, Olivier Bertrand, was working in Gaziantep to collect stories about post-coup Turkey. While there, Bertrand was detained by police with no reason given. On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault demanded that Bertrand be set free.
Bertrand was released by Turkish authorities and deported back to France.
Freelance journalists Kastus Zhukouski and Aleksei Atroshchanka were working for Belsat TV in Svetlahorsk. While attempting to film trees being cut down by authorities, the two journalists were approached by police, who demanded to see their credentials.
After their IDs were initially checked, a police major who identified himself as Vyazhevich, approached and demanded to see the journalists’ credentials.
Zhukouski and Atroshchanka told the major that they had just shown their IDs and saw no reason so show them again.
Zhukouski told Belsat.eu that, the “major began to shake– his reaction was strange. He began to yell at us, asking if we have accreditation? We said that the right to freely spread information is guaranteed by the Constitution of Belarus. Major said we had to go to the police station. We did not resist. In the station he behaved inappropriately: grabbed the camera, my arm, pushed me, insulted me, and tried to provoke me in every way. I wrote a complaint about such actions of the police…”
After being held in the police station for three hours and having their belongings searched, the journalists were released.
Dennis Schouten, a journalist for PowNed was assaulted at a Rotterdam protest against the children’s character, Black Pete, who is part of the yearly celebration of Saint Nicholas. The character is supposed to be Saint Nicholas’ servant and is usually portrayed by a white person in blackface. The protesters were arguing the portrayal is racist.
While interviewing a protester, Schouten was pushed in front of a moving car. The reporter received no injuries.
The perpetrator was arrested by police at the scene.
