Freedom of information Archives - Page 2 of 5

Serbian Court Criticised for Convicting Journalist of Inciting Revolt

Posted on July 11, 2023July 19, 2023 by BIRD

Zeljko Bodrozic, president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, said on Tuesday that the verdict sentencing journalist Milovan Brkic to 14 months in jail was proof that the country’s judiciary has become an arm of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

Brkic, 66, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Tabloid, was convicted by Belgrade Higher Court on Tuesday of calling for a violent change in the country’s constitutional order. The verdict can be appealed.

“If Milovan Brkic is really capable of destroying the state and harming it with his articles and speeches, then this state is not a tiger in the Balkans, nor does it have security services that it can be proud of,” said Bordozic.

“Brkic’s Tabloid has a very small reach and influence, but it is highlighted non-stop by the authorities in order to create the image that President Aleksandar Vucic is constantly under threat. That certainly cannot be a reason for someone to be sentenced to 14 months in prison,” he added.

The prosecution claimed that on May 8 this year during a ‘Serbia against Violence’ protest, Brkic called for the overthrow of the state authorities and their representatives – the National Assembly and President Vucic.

“The court today had a choice between showing that there is still some independence of the judiciary in Serbia or to send a message that Serbia has put an end to freedom of speech,” Brkic’s lawyer, Vladimir Gajic, told Beta news agency.

“Brkic was de facto convicted of a verbal offence. What he said on May 8 was just a politically incorrect statement,” he added.

The higher public prosecution had asked for Brkic to be sentenced to two years in prison.

Turkey Urged to Release Journalist Detained for Comments on TV

Posted on July 11, 2023July 19, 2023 by BIRD

The Association for Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed, also known as MAZLUMDER, called on Turkey’s government on Tuesday to release veteran Turkish journalist Merdan Yanardag, who has been detained since June 27 for comments he made about the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan People’s Party, PKK.

“We invite the authorities to adhere to national and universal legal regulations and to comply with human rights rules in their investigations and prosecutions,” MAZLUMDER said in a statement.

It described the handling of Yanardag’s case as “disproportionate” and said that the issue of whether or not he had committed any crime “can only be determined by trial”.

Yanardag, the executive editor of the TELE 1 TV channel, was taken into custody after he was accused by the prosecutor’s office of “praising a crime and a criminal” and “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation”. He has not yet been put on trial.

Yanardag said in a show aired on TELE 1 TV channel that the contact ban and solitary confinement imposed on jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan should be lifted.

“Abdullah Ocalan is not someone to be taken lightly. He almost became a philosopher in prison because he does nothing but read. He is an extremely intelligent person who reads politics correctly, sees it correctly, and analyses it correctly,” Yanardag also said.

His comments were criticised by ruling coalition parties, state agencies and even some opposition parties.

However, rights groups argued that his remarks should be considered an expression of freedom of speech.

PKK leader Ocalan has been kept in solitary confinement for 24 years at a prison on the remote Imrali Island near Bursa.

Since March 25, 2021, Ocalan has not been in contact with his family and lawyers, and no information has been received from Ocalan or other prisoners on the island.

The PKK has been fighting against Turkish government for more than 40 years for greater autonomy for Kurds living in the country. PKK leader and founder Ocalan was captured in Kenya in 1999 and jailed for life.

Turkey remains the world’s one of the major jailers of journalists. According to the Journalists’ Union of Turkey, TGS, at least 34 journalists are behind bars.

Bosnia CSOs Warn that New FOI Bill Will Limit Citizens’ Rights

Posted on June 14, 2023June 29, 2023 by BIRD

A group of 20 civil society organisations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, gathered in the Initiative for Monitoring European Integration, has issued a warning on “the shortcomings of the Draft Law on Freedom of Access to Information of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” which Bosnia’s state-level government, the Council of Ministers, adopted on April 12.

“The adopted Proposal would significantly limit access to information of public interest, given that it contains a long list of exceptions or possible restrictions on access to information,” the Initiative said, adding that the new law would threaten “already acquired rights and achievements,” which is not in accordance with international practices.

“The proponent of this law turned the European standard of open and free access to public information into an exception, not a rule, which in practice could lead to the impossibility of accessing a large amount of information of public importance,” they added.

The Initiative underlined that the Ministry of Justice, in charge of drafting the law, had ignored more than 200 comments and proposals sent by the organisations during the consultations period in 2021.

They also noted that the ministry also did not consider recommendations by “competent institutions of the European Commission and SIGMA regarding the formation of a new independent body that would perform inspection supervision of the implementation of this law”.

“The members of the Initiative are preparing amendments to the adopted Proposal in order to improve it and bring it into line with international standards,” the Initiative added, inviting other CSOs, media, citizens and international community to join the discussion on the law, before it is voted in the House of Representatives of the state-level parliament.

Bosnia’s current Law on Freedom of Information was enacted in 2000. In 2001, similar legislation was adopted at entity levels. Meanwhile, in Brcko District, a separate administrative district of Bosnia, the Instructions for the Implementation of the Freedom of Access to Information Law are already in effect.

Belgrade Mayor’s Chief of Cabinet Sues BIRN for Defamation

Posted on June 13, 2023June 29, 2023 by BIRD

Nenad Milanovic, chief of cabinet of Belgrade mayor Aleksandar Sapic, filed a defamation lawsuit against BIRN Serbia before the Higher Court in Belgrade, seeking 200.000 dinars (1,705 euros) in damages for mental anguish.

The lawsuit claims his reputation and honour has been damaged by the BIRN article, “Audios Reveal that Sapic’s Chief of Cabinet Offered to Fix Procurement to Kentkart”. The lawsuit states that the article is “full of absolute falsehoods”, but does not elaborate to explain which information Milanovic believes to be incorrect.

“The news published on website birn.rs was very disturbing to the plaintiff because the incriminating expressions used by the defendant were disparaging and have contributed to the damages for the plaintiff’s honour and reputation, especially in the plaintiff’s work environment, and then in the environment in which the plaintiff lives.

“Namely, the plaintiff is very successful in his job, and the insinuations mentioned in the text can have an extremely negative impact on the plaintiff’s reputation at his work and in the private sphere as well”, reads the lawsuit.

The lawsuit is filed against BIRN Serbia and its editor-in-chief Milorad Ivanovic.

Ivanovic says this is the fourth SLAPP lawsuit this year.

“This is forth SLAPP lawsuit filed against our newsroom this year. These lawsuits are not being filed in honest attempt to receive any kind of justice, but to exhaust journalists and newsroom.

“The lawsuit does not deny any fact we have published in the article. Mental anguish of public officials, their reputation and honour, cannot be above the truth,” said Ivanovic.

So-called SLAPPs aim to drain the target’s financial and psychological resources and chill critical voices, to the detriment of public participation, according to a report on SLAPP lawsuits in Serbia published in 2022 by Article 19, the American Bar Association Centre for Human Rights and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, NUNS.

Aleksandar Sapic, the mayor of the Serbian capital, has filed two separate defamation lawsuits against BIRN Serbia, its editor and journalists in March, claiming that their reporting damaged his reputation and caused him mental anguish. He is seeking six million Serbian dinars (around 50,000 euros) in damages in each case – a total of around 100,000 euros.

Predrag Koluvija, who is on trial for alleged illicit marijuana production, in February accused BIRN of incorrectly reporting on one of his court hearings and thus damaging his reputation and causing him mental anguish. He is seeking 200,000 dinars (around 1,700 euros) in damages.

Journalists’ Vehicles Attacked in Serb-Dominated North Kosovo

Posted on May 29, 2023June 1, 2023 by BIRD

Unknown persons on Monday in a Serb-majority municipality in northern Kosovo, Leposavic, damaged the cars of BIRN and Kosovo-Albanian language broadcaster RTV Dukagjini, which were following local protests against the newly-elected mayor of the town.

The tires of the cars were blown and they were vandalized with the “4S” symbol, which stands for the moto “Samo sloga Srbina spasava” (Only unity saves the Serbs). The RKS symbol, which stands for the Republic of Kosovo, was covered in the license plates.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, said it “condemns this act of the protesters and at the same time calls on the Kosovo Police and the international presence in Kosovo to enable safe and unhindered reporting of media crews”.

Xhemajl Rexha, President of the AJK, said on Twitter that journalist crews were attacked in Zvecan as well. “Just 20 meters from a legion of NATO soldiers, the car I was traveling with, Top Channel TV and Euronews Albania teams, was attacked, sprayed and the licence plates taken off, in Zvecan,” Rexha wrote, adding that masked persons had also been “swearing at us”.

Journalist crews were attacked before on the ground during tensions in the north of Kosovo.

On December 9, 2022, a car carrying BIRN journalist Shkodrane Dakaj and producer Valdet Salihu was attacked by a masked group of Serbs in North Mitrovica. They were going to the north to report on the barricades blocking the roads to the borders with Serbia.

In October 2021, BIRN Journalists were chased by protesters throwing Molotov cocktails in Leposavic. Serbs protesting against the police action against smuggling in several Kosovo cities, including Serb-majority North Mitrovica, attacked journalists going to the scene with rocks and Molotov cocktails.

In both these cases the investigation is still ongoing.

In May, a BIRN analysis of 62 incidents involving firearms, knives, stones and physical assault since 2017 concluded that the police and prosecutors in Kosovo are struggling to solve violent crimes, particularly when they occur in the mainly Serb north, where Half of the cases, 31, occurred in the four northern Serb-majority municipalities.

Of these 31 cases, 13 were attacks against journalists which occurred between 2018 and 2022. The court ordered one month’s detention in one case and the police filed a complaint in another. BIRN was not able to confirm if any other suspects have been identified or arrested in the other cases.

Kosovo Serbs gathered in front of municipal buildings in northern Kosovo early on Monday, protesting against newly elected ethnic Albanian mayors, while Kosovo Police and NATO’s peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, upped their presence to secure the area.

Meanwhile, in the capital, Pristina, the new mayors of Zvecan, Ilir Peci, and of Zubin Potok, Izmir Zeqiri, met the EU Ambassador in Kosovo, Tomas Szunyog, and US Ambassador, Jeffrey Hovenier. The EU and the US urged Kosovo authorities to refrain from using force and to de-escalate the situation.

Rights Groups Warn Turkish Govt Control of Internet Threatens Elections

Posted on May 10, 2023May 16, 2023 by BIRD

Only days before Turkey’s critical May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections, watchdog organisations Human Rights Watch, HRW, and Article 19 said in a question and answer report that the Turkish government’s control over the internet and tech companies policies endangers the elections.

“The Turkish government has accelerated its efforts to enforce censorship and tighten control over social media and independent online news sites ahead of this election,” said Deborah Brown, senior technology researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The vote will test whether voters in Turkey can rely on social media for independent news and to express their views on the election and its outcome, despite government efforts to put companies under its heel,” she added.

The two organisations said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government should refrain from threatening or throttling social media to prevent opposing views from circulating during the election.

They recalled that the government has stepped up its prosecutions of journalists, political opponents, and others for criticizing the President and the government online, or just for sharing or liking critical articles on social media.

In Sunday’s parliamentary and presidential elections, Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, face their biggest ever challenge to their rule.

Polls show the race is tight between Erdogan and his challenger for the presidency, Kemal Kilicdaroglu. The race between their respective alliances for a majority in parliament is also neck-and-neck.

The government frequently blocks websites and orders removal of content that voices opposing views, and has a record of blocking access to popular social media networks at times of political unrest or when it anticipates criticism, as it did after the devastating February 2023 earthquakes.

But the rights groups also urged the tech companies to resist government pressure.

“Social media platforms and messaging services should prioritize human rights over profits to respect the right of voters in Turkey to participate in a democratic election by resisting government pressure and putting in place contingency plans against throttling,” the report said.

“Social media companies may face intense pressure to remove content the government views unfavourably, including assessments from independent monitors,” said Sarah Clarke, director of Article 19 Europe.

“It is crucial for companies to resist these pressures and do everything in their power to push back against measures that would make them complicit in rights abuses during this critical election period.” Clarke added.

In recent years, the government has increased its censorship of the media and internet, using draconian laws and regulations.

Turkey ranked in 165th place out of 180 countries in the 2023 press freedom index of the watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders, RSF. It classifies the Turkish government’s control over media outlets as high.

Turkey Accused of ‘Persecuting’ Critical Media Ahead of Key Elections

Posted on April 13, 2023May 16, 2023 by BIRD

A group of international media organisations and rights groups in a joint statement have accused the Turkish broadcasting regulator of punishing critical reporting ahead of important general and presidential elections on May 14.

“Twenty press freedom, freedom of expression and human rights organizations call on Turkey’s broadcast regulator (RTUK) to immediately stop fining broadcasters for their critical reporting. Journalists and broadcasters must be allowed to do their jobs of informing the public over critical issues and holding the government to account,” the joint statement said on Thursday.

Twenty media and human rights organizations, including Freedom House, the International Press Institute, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the International Federation of Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders, are involved in this initiative.

The Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, is a state agency that monitors and sanctions radio and television broadcasts.

“Instead of upholding freedom of expression and media pluralism in the country, RTUK is being weaponized by the governing parties to silence legitimate criticism and provide them with an unfair advantage in the May 2023 elections. This suppression of public debate is undermining the electoral process,” the joint statement said.

In recent months, following devastating earthquakes in southern Turkey, RTUK has been increasingly penalising TV channels for their critical coverage of government policies and election processes.

“We view these incidents as part of the Turkish government’s systematic attempt to stifle critical reporting and to control the information flow ahead of Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14, 2023,” the statement said.

“We call on the Turkish broadcast regulator, RTUK, to immediately end the persecution of independent broadcasters and act according to its mandate to secure freedom of expression and media pluralism in the country.”

The opposition, experts and international rights groups have accused the RTUK of going all out to crush the remaining independent media and of acting as a tool of the authoritarian government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who faces the greatest challenge to his 21-year of rule in elections on May 14.

The joint statement highlighted that in 2022 alone, RTUK issued 54 penalties to five independent broadcasters totalling 17.335.000 Turkish Lira (approximately 823,000 euros) in fines. By contrast, government channels received four penalties totalling 1,674.000 TL (about 80,000 euros).

Turkey ranked in 153rd place out of 180 countries in 2022 in the latest press freedom index of watchdog organisation Reporters Without Borders, RSF, which classifies the Turkish government’s control over media outlets as high.

Turkish Opposition Slates New Social Media Regulation Ahead of Elections

Posted on April 5, 2023May 16, 2023 by BIRD

Good Party leader Meral Aksener has accused President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of increasing government control and censorship ahead of vital May 14 elections with a new regulation of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, BTK.

“Only 39 days left to the elections and the BTK has put a new social media regulation into force. According to this, social media platforms will have to deliver personal information to the authorities without any court decision. Finding an excuse for an investigation will be enough,” Aksener said in parliament.

Aksener said the personal information of people who have not been proved guilty by courts may be demanded for such vaguely defined reasons as “spreading disinformation”, crimes against “state secrets, integrity of the state” and crimes against “constitutional order”.

The new regulation of the BTK was published in the Official Gazette on Saturday.

It is based on the recent contorversial disinformation law adopted by parliament in October 2021 but brings even more restrictions.

According to the new regulation, social media platforms will have to store users’ data in Turkey and will must share it with the authorities if they ask for it.

“If social networks act against their information-sharing responsibility, their bandwidth will be reduced by 90 per cent,” the new regulation says.

“In other words, the ENAG [an independent platform evaluating the inflation rate] may be silenced for spreading misleading information. Moreover, not only the ENAG, but also accounts that share the ENAG figures will be silenced,” Aksener said.

Aksener added another possible example about the recent earthquake disaster; the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been criticised for its slow and ineffective response to it.

“People who say that there were no search-and-rescue missions for four days will be silenced for acting against the integrity of the state,” she claimed..

The new regulation has worried rights groups and experts, fearing more censorship ahead of highly critical parliamentary and presidential elections on May 14 that pose a major challenge to Erdogan’s 21 years of rule.

“The so-called disinformation law in Turkey … came into full effect a few days ago and has already been worsened by the recent regulation announced by the BTK,” said Gurkan Ozturan, coordinator of Media Freedom Rapid Response, MFRR, at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.

“The new directive, which again is written with ambiguous wording that can cause arbitrary implementation, proposes heavy violations of users’ rights to anonymity, privacy and it imposes duties to monitor people’s online activities at all times for service providers,” he added.

According to Ozturan, the regulation targets citizens’ right to access information as well as “media freedom, making it compulsory to amplify news published from the perspective of the government”.

“Ahead of elections in May, this directive poses a crucial threat to media freedom and such coervice and over the line applications should be abolished.” Ozturan concluded.

Erdoigan’s government has regularly changed regulations and laws to increase its control over social media networks in recent years.

In February, it blocked most access to Twitter, Tiktok and slowed down the internet in the country as public anger mounted about the government’s response to the quake crisis.

Belgrade Mayor Files Defamation Lawsuits Against BIRN

Posted on March 29, 2023April 4, 2023 by BIRD

Aleksandar Sapic, the mayor of the Serbian capital of Belgrade, has filed two separate defamation lawsuits against BIRN Serbia, its editor and journalists, claiming that their reporting damaged his reputation and caused him mental anguish.

Sapic is suing BIRN Serbia, editor-in-chief Milorad Ivanovic and investigative reporters Jelena Veljkovic and Aleksandar Djordjevic for their reporting on his villa in the Italian coastal city of Trieste

He is also suing BIRN Serbia, Ivanovic and investigative reporter Radmilo Markovic over an article about the legalisation of extensions to Sapic’s mansion in Belgrade’s Bezanijska Kosa neighbourhood.

He is seeking six million Serbian dinars (around 50,000 euros) in damages in each case – a total of around 100,000 euros.

“By publishing falsehoods, the accused have caused irreparable damage to the plaintiff in terms of mental anguish due to the violation of [his] honour, reputation and human dignity, which called into question the plaintiff’s overall moral values, which he enjoys within a certain social environment,” both lawsuits allege.

BIRN Serbia editor-in-chief Ivanovic said the lawsuits were another example of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, SLAPPs, which are aimed at intimidating journalists and discouraging them from reporting about individuals and topics of public interest.

He added that court practice in Serbia shows that judges do not award damages in such large amounts as Sapic is seeking from BIRN, and that the aim of the mayor’s lawsuits is to expose the media organisation, its editors and journalists to financial costs in order to exhaust its resources.

“BIRN will continue to investigate topics of public interest, keep institutions, politicians and public officials in check, and publish stories that the public has the right to know about so that they can make informed decisions,” said Ivanovic.

The aim of SLAPPs is to drain the target’s financial and psychological resources and chill critical voices to the detriment of public participation, according to a report on SLAPP lawsuits in Serbia published in 2022 by Article 19, the American Bar Association Centre for Human Rights and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, NUNS.

Turkey Punishes TV Channels for Critical Coverage Ahead of Elections

Posted on March 22, 2023April 4, 2023 by BIRD

Four Turkish TV stations have been sanctioned and fined for their critical coverage ahead of highly important May 14 parliamentary and presidential elections, Ilhan Tasci, a board member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, at the Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, announced on Tuesday.

“The RTUK made it clear in today’s meeting that it aims to bring critical broadcasters in line before the election,” Tasci wrote on Twitter.

The state agency that monitors and sanctions radio and television broadcasts sanctioned Halk TV for praising a convicted criminal, when jailed Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas’ most recent book was discussed.

Halk TV has had 5 per cent of its monthly advertisement income and its programmes stopped five times.

Show TV received the same fine for alleged physical violence against a woman in a soap opera, but Tasci said that the real reason was a political comedy show that satirized the government’s poor handling of the February earthquakes.

Fox TV was fined 3 per cent of its monthly advertisement income for the remarks of commentators about a ruling party mayor’s handling of foreign funds after the flood disaster of the last week.

The same fine was applied to Tele 1 TV channel after a journalist criticized Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party, AKP, over the ban on women’s day rallies on March 8.

Halk TV was also fined another 3 per cent of its monthly advertisement income due to a TV programme in which an opposition politician criticized the handling of the earthquake disaster.

Experts said such fines are unacceptable as the country heads towards elections.

“Turkey’s partisan media regulator issues heavy fines against critical TV networks, primarily focusing on post-earthquake broadcasts, punishing critical speech on screens. Such absurd fines, especially when considered within the election timeline, are a major threat to society’s right to access information and an assault on media freedom,” Gurkan Ozturan, Coordinator of Media Freedom Rapid Response at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, told BIRN.

The RTUK previously fined three TV stations in February for their coverage of the government’s quake response, in what unions and watchdogs called another blow to media freedom.

Ozturan said: “The target of these fines and broadcast bans is obvious – critical speech that was aired in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes ahead of the elections. Such pressure and punishment of journalism and independent media are unacceptable.”

The opposition, experts and international rights groups have accused the RTUK of going all out to crush the remaining independent media in Turkey and of acting as a tool of the authoritarian government of President Erdogan.

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