media Archives - Page 3 of 10

Kosovo Public Broadcaster Board Sacks Director for Negligence

Posted on January 20, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The newly elected board of the Kosovo public broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo, RTK, has dismissed Ngadhnjim Kastrati as director for not performing his duties effectively and for violating RTK law.

“I received notification of my dismissal at home where I have been in isolation for several days due to COVID-19,” Kastrati announced on Facebook. “I was not notified of any dismissal procedure and nor was there an item on the agenda for my dismissal,” he added.

Kastrati was dismissed by nine votes in favour and one against. “The decision for the dismissal is based on numerous violations of the Law on RTK and other sub-legal acts in the RTK during Kastrati’s mandate. The RTK Board concluded that the general director neglected irregularities, abuses, lack of work, nepotism … and continued biased reporting by the public broadcaster,” the board said.

Last year, Kastrati was grilled about nepotistic job appointments by two parliamentary commissions that oversee RTK. Kastrati then defended the employment of family members of former president Hashim Thaci, now facing war crimes charges at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague. He said MPs should not interfere in recruitment processes.

BIRN reported on how Thaci family members were hired as a copyright experts, a camera operator and in the marketing department.

In its 2020 report on Kosovo’s progress, the European Commission said that RTK “remains vulnerable to political pressure and influence”, mainly due to being “directly state-funded, with its budget determined annually by the Assembly”.

According to the report, RTK at the time had 1,024 employees, of whom 806 were on regular contracts and the rest working part-time. Just over two-thirds of the broadcaster’s budget went on salaries, it said. The general consensus is that RTK has too many employees.

The board’s decision to dismiss Kastrati also cites a 2020 National Audit report, which identified mismanagement and unwillingness to improve and resolve RTK problems, mismanagement by RTK marketing contracts, and mismanagement of invoice contracts.

During Kastrati’s mandate, which was due to end in early 2022 anyway, there were accusations also that RTK would propagandize for certain politicians, and that there was budget misuse.

In its dismissal decision, the RTK board claimed Kastrati failed to open proper vacancy positions for the needs of RTK and had violated the law by allowing an editor-in-chief to remain in post since 2019 when the law allows only six-month terms.

The board claimed Kastrati has violated RTK’s internal Regulation on Material and Disciplinary Responsibilities by not taking “corrective measures after ascertaining violations by employees”. For example, Ridvan Berisha on January 10 confirmed via email that he had not been to work for almost a year – but continues to be paid by RTK.

Watchdog Marks Worrying Rise in SLAPP Cases in Croatia

Posted on January 14, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The Coalition Against SLAPPS in Europe, CASE, an umbrella group uniting a range of watchdog organisations, on Thursday published a comprehensive study noting a sharp rise in SLAPP cases across Europe over the last four years – with 539 cases across Europe today, a fifth of that number lodged in 2021 alone.

According to the policy paper, “SLAPPs in Europe, How the EU Can Protect Watchdogs From Abusive Lawsuits”, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia and Ireland top the list. Malta had the hightest rate of SLAPP cases per capita, with 3 per 100,000 people, followed by Slovenia at 1.9 and Croatia at 0.6.

More than one in ten cases recorded were cross-border and half the targets noted in the study were either individual journalists or newsrooms.

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are civil claims filed against individuals or organisations, often by businesses or government officials, against those who oppose them on issues of public concern, with a view to silencing them. They are widely seen as a a tool of “modern censorship”.

The paper quotes data compiled by the Croatian journalists’ association, HND, which recorded a total of 905 active court cases against journalist and media outlets in the country 2020 and at least 924 cases in 2021.

Of these cases in 2021, it is not clear how many are SLAPPs, but data from previous years showed that only one in ten journalists were eventually convicted or found liable for damages.

The Index.hr news outlet alone faces 65 active lawsuits. “Data from previous years showed that only one in ten journalists were eventually convicted or found liable for damages,” the policy report adds.

The fact that most SLAPP cases are lost in court does not diminish the harm they cause, the paper says, adding: “The litigation process causes the most harm, but also has an impact on society and democracy as a whole, in what has been defined as a ‘modern wave of censorship-by-litigation’.”

At the end of 2021, Croatia’s Ministry of Culture and Media organized a workshop on SLAPPs at which Zagreb County Court judge Krešimir Devcic said more than 1,100 such lawsuits had been brought, seeking over 70 million kune (almost a million euros) in damages.

“This is a critical mass of lawsuits that require an appropriate response from the judiciary. That’s why I think judges should specialise in such matters, or there should be a certain number of judges in court departments to deal with such lawsuits,” Devcic said, the news agency HINA reported.

In March 2021, a Croatian lawyer specializing in media law, Vanja Juric, who has often warned of the harmful affect of SLAPPs on the media, was elected member of the European Commission’s expert group on SLAPPs.

Both the trade union of Croatian Journalists, SNH, and the Croatian Journalists’ Association, HND, have warned about the damaging affect of SLAPPs on journalists and media.

In October 2021, HND said a businessman, Josip Stojanovic Jolly, had submitted a claim for damages of 300.000 euros against the Telegram.hr portal, claiming damage to reputation and honour caused by a published article.

As yet, no EU country has firm rules in place to stop this abuse, the paper notes. “Given the scale and nature of the problem, the EU has a responsibility to act and is in a key position to make sure governments across the EU take concrete measure to prevent and counter SLAPPs,” it states.

Bulgaria Probes Wave of Threats to Journalists, Activists, Politicians

Posted on January 12, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The Prosecution in Sofia on January 12 confirmed it was investigating several cases of threats and intimidation of journalists, activists and opposition politicians.

They concern journalist Atanas Tchobanov, activist and Sofia City Councillor Boris Bonev, the “We Continue the Change” MP Hristo Petrov, as well as new Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov.

The Sofia Prosecution said a lack of help from other state institutions had so far prevented more progress from being made.

“In order to preserve the security of the people in question, the supervising prosecutors requested information from the competent structures: the Ministry of Interior, the National Police services, the State Security Agency and the Military Intelligence Service, on whether they have data on threats against them. Unfortunately, so far, no answers to our inquiries have been received, although the cases concern exported data on crimes that could affect the lives of Bulgarian citizens,” Nevena Zartova, from the Sofia Prosecution office, said on Wednesday.

The growing attacks on media freedom in the country have also reached the parliament. b“In Bulgaria, the unreformed special services often turn their back on instances of organized crime and corruption. Investigative journalism remains the only means of investigating the ‘deep state’,” Democratic Bulgaria MP Zarko Marinov told parliament on Wednesday.

Marinov said the threats made to the journalist Atanas Tchobanov needed to be “neutralized”. Tchobanov said through his social media he had been alerted from abroad about threats to his life.

“Last Friday, at 12:05, I received a call from an official of a foreign government who warned that I was under an immediate physical threat and by law I have to be alerted about this. The threat is said to come from Bulgaria but I’m currently abroad. I immediately informed the Bulgarian [intelligence] services who were unaware of such danger,” he wrote.

After the Prosecution in Sofia started investigating the case, Tchobanov later added that the threat most likely came “from the first row of the parliament”.

A recent article on website bird.bg, which he co-authored, looked into alleged ties between the mainly ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms’ member, the oligarch Peevski, and American lobbyist Anthony Podesta, who has signed contracts for nearly 2 million US dollars with Peevski-affiliated companies. In 2021, Tchobanov was also involved in the “Pandora Papers” leak, which showed that Peevski had offshore assets.

On Monday, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms called on the authorities to probe the legitimacy of Tchobanov’s claims.

On January 9, the Association of European Journalists – Bulgaria, AEJ Bulgaria, called for a rapid investigation of the threats made to Tchobanov and other journalists.

“Due to the nature of their work, which exposes corruption and irregularities, investigative journalists are in a vulnerable position and it is the responsibility of the institutions to protect them from those interested in drowning out their voices,” it said.

One day after Tchobanov revealed the threats he was facing, the activist Boris Bonev also stated that he has been alerted about a threat to him, with this warning also coming from abroad.

Bonev heads an NGO called “Save Sofia” (Spasi Sofia), which focuses on preserving Bulgaria’s capital and is critical of the legacy of Bulgaria’s former ruling GERB party and current Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova.

“I’ve always suspected that our fight for a brighter Sofia might cause irritation to some shadowy and wealthy figures in Bulgaria,” wrote Bonev, who ran in the Sofia mayoral elections in 2019 as an independent and won 10.77 per cent of the vote. On January 10, the Prosecution started a probe into his claims, too.

On December 14 last year, the Prosecution also started looking into death threats made against “We Continue the Change” member and MP and popular rapper Hristo Petrov, also known as Itzo Hazarta.

Earlier that month, in a speech in parliament, Petrov claimed he was being intimidated, without providing much information on the threat. In December, authorities were also informed about threats being made against Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov.

On January 12, AEJ highlighted another case endangering free speech in Bulgaria.

A Sofia City Court ruling on January 8 ordered journalists Boris Mitov and Stoyana Georgieva, editor-in-chief of website Mediapool.bg, to pay 60,000 leva (around 30,000 euro) for insulting and slandering judge Svetlin Mihaylov, described as “controversial” in a 2018 article focusing on various questionable bits in his professional history and reputation.

“The court decision not only does not comment on the fact that Mihaylov is a public figure, but also does not discuss any of the arguments of the defence”, the AEJ recalled.

“The Association of European Journalists strongly opposes attempts to intimidate journalists through judicial repression for their critical publications, which contain proven and well-known allegations,” it added.

Platform B – Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience

Posted on January 6, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Together with our partners, BIRN is launching a series of online and offline events aimed at amplifying the voices of strong and credible individuals and organisations in the region that promote the core values of democracy, such as civic engagement, independent institutions, transparency and the rule of law.

As a primarily media organisation, we want to open space and provide a platform to discuss and reshape our alliances in light of the challenges facing democracies in Southeastern and Central Europe.

This comes at a critical time when the region is seeing several troubling trends towards: centralized power, reduced transparency, assaults on media, politicized judiciaries, unchecked corruption, online violations and social polarization – all amid heightened geopolitical tensions and divisions in Europe.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, Platform B event series will be organised with respect for with all relevant health measures. As the situation improves, we hope to be able to host some of the events in BIRN spaces in Sarajevo and Belgrade, and elsewhere in the region.

Platform B will be an opportunity for individuals and groups to meet monthly on selected topics.

Illustration. BIRN/Igor Vujcic

Next event: Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience

Date: January 14, 2022 (Friday)

Time: 3pm-4.30pm CET

At this event, BIRN will present the main findings of its report on the position of female journalists in the Balkans, Women in Newsrooms: Perspectives on Equity, Diversity and Resilience.

The report highlights trends, opportunities and obstacles, identified through the sharing of experiences and perspectives by women working in the media, to paint a more nuanced and complex picture of women’s role in newsrooms, news-making and regional societies more broadly. When it comes to women journalists, prevailing narratives have focused almost exclusively on online violence and women’s vulnerability, rather than on the systems that make this type of abuse prevalent, normalized and even profitable.

This report, and accompanying platform, is an attempt to paint a picture that is more nuanced – to address the intersecting identities and diverse experiences that actually characterize women’s media – and newsrooms more specifically – and their participation and representation in the Balkans.

The report includes in-depth interviews with more than 20 female journalists, editors, fact-checkers, editor-in-chiefs and activists as well as a broad data collection, comprising a total of 175 responses BIRN obtained through an online survey conducted in October and November 2021.

Together with the authors and regional journalists and gender equality experts, we will reflect on the findings of BIRN’s report and offer some recommendations to regional media outlets, journalists’ unions and institutions on how to advance women’s positions in the newsrooms and stop perceiving them as victims but as agents of change.

A complete list of panelists is to be published soon.

Upon registration you will receive a Zoom link.

Euronews Serbia Denies Editorial Changes After Orban-Linked Firm Takeover

Posted on December 22, 2021January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Bojan Brkic, editor of Euronews Serbia, told BIRN that there will be no changes to the outlet’s editorial policy as a result of Euronews’ takeover by a Portuguese company linked to the family circle of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The purchase of Euronews has raised suspicions that it could affect the outlet’s editorial policy, given the Hungarian PM’s hostile stance towards critical media outlets in his own country.

Eyebrows were raised especially in the Balkans, where Euronews has strong presence, and where Orban has its many political and business links, especially in Serbia, where he has excellent relations with President Vucic, another leader often accused of hostility to a free press.

“Euronews Serbia’s editorial policy could, in theory, change only if Euronews’ editorial policy in Lyon [headquarters] changes. And that will not happen. Last week I was in Lyon and received new assurances, although I didn’t even need them, that there would be no change in editorial policy,” Brkic told BIRN.

“Such a change has not happened for 30 years, since Euronews existed, with all the changes of owners. Impartiality, objectivity and presentation of all opinions remain editorial principles,” he added.

On December 17, Euronews announced that Portuguese investment firm Alpac Capital, whose chief executive, Pedro Vargas David, is the son of Orban adviser Mario David, will buy an 88-per-cent share from Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris.

David is a rightist Portuguese politician, a former MEP, and currently an adviser to Orban. In April 2016, Orban was cited as calling him a “true friend” when he awarded him the Middle Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in Lisbon for “supporting Hungarian interests”.

The firm that bought Euronews has an office in Budapest and has received capital from big Hungarian companies, some linked to Orban and his ruling Fidesz party.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, in 2017 helped promote the launch of an Alpac fund aimed at regional investments, Politico wrote.

After the majority purchase of Euronews by Alpac Capital, the remaining 12 percent is still owned by a consortium of public television companies and local authorities in the EU. The pan-European media outlet has for years been subsidized by the European Commission.

Euronews’s deal in Serbia with a company owned by majority-state-owned Telekom prompted media experts to question its legality and the motives behind the move.

Experts said Euronews’ and Telekom’s joint venture, Euronews Serbia, violated a law that prohibits state-owned enterprises from founding or owning media outlets. They say it also may be used by the state to create an illusion of media freedom in Serbia.

Under the rule of Serbian Progressive Party led by President Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia has slipped steadily down the media freedom rankings of international watchdogs. Majority-state-owned Telekom has a dominant role in the media market.

Beside Serbia, Euronews has services in Albania, Romania and Greece. Euronews Greece has said it cannot comment on latest developments, while Euronews Albania did not answer BIRN’s questions by time of publication.

Poles Protest Against Law Silencing Foreign-Owned Media

Posted on December 20, 2021January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Poles protested in 126 towns across the country over the weekend against what has been dubbed “Lex TVN”, a law prohibiting ownership of media operating in Poland by companies outside the European Economic Area – the European Union plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The law only needs the signature of President Andrzej Duda to come into force. In the past, he expressed reservations about greenlighting it straight away.

Ever since it was proposed in the summer, the law was understood to be targeting TVN, the largest private television station in Poland, owned by US company Discovery, Inc. and which often criticises the ruling Law and Justice Party, PiS.

Both the EU and the US have voiced concern. US State Department spokesman Ned Price’s statement on Friday said: “The United States is deeply troubled by the passage in Poland today of a law that would undermine freedom of expression, weaken media freedom, and erode foreign investors’ confidence in their property rights and the sanctity of contracts in Poland.”

“Once this bill becomes a law, the Commission will not hesitate to take action in case of non-compliance with EU law,” Vera Jourova, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency warned in a statement.

TVN is owned by Discovery via a company registered in The Netherlands, but the new bill would make it impossible for TVN to operate as before even with this ownership structure.

Discovery on Friday urged President Duda not to sign the bill. Over the summer, the company had indicated it would fight back, possibly taking legal action under the terms of a longstanding bilateral treaty between the US and Poland.

The adoption of “Lex TVN” forms part of an ongoing assault on media freedom in Poland ever since PiS came to power in 2015.

The governing party first established political control over public media, then rechannelled public advertising away from independent media to the channels it controls; and, at the end of 2020, the state-controlled energy giant PKN Orlen took over the company owning most local and regional media in the country.

By Monday morning, 2 million people had signed an appeal to President Duda not to pass the law, which the text describes as an attack not only on media freedom but also on democracy.

Representatives of all major democratic opposition parties and independent media took part in this weekend’s protest actions.

Turkish Media Overseer Penalising Independent Media With Fines – Report

Posted on December 10, 2021January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

New research published by the independent online newspaper T24 says Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, RTUK, the state agency that monitors and sanctions radio and television broadcasts, is deliberately targeting independent media outlets with financial and other penalties to silence them.

“Tele 1 was fined for the same reasons as other media houses. RTUK penalises media houses that report the truth and do journalism. They want us to stop reporting,” Murat Taylan, General Coordinator at Tele 1 TV, told BIRN.

Taylan added that RTUK has become a government mechanism to control Turkey’s remaining independent media.

“We report on poverty, corruption, bans, rights and freedoms, which the government does not want us to report on. These fines will not change our editorial policy – but we have to share a part of our budget for fines, instead of improving our coverage and reports,” Taylan added.

It is calculated that RTUK has this year alone fined media outlets 92 times, with a total of 27 million Turkish lira, equal to 1.8 million euros; also, most of the fines were imposed on independent TV channels; 52 per cent of them on one channell, FOX TV, Turkey’s most watched TV channel.

RTUK has sanctioned news channels 57 times, and again, imposed most of the sanctions on independent and critically oriented media.

Of that number, 19 sanctions were imposed on Halk TV, 18 on Tele 1 and eight on KRT TV.

The pro-government A Haber news channel, by comparison, was fined once, after a court order because of a slander case.

“It is intended to put pressure on organisations that are followed, can form public opinion and, more importantly, can or do try to do journalism and broadcast using universal standards as much as possible,” Okan Konuralp, RTUK board member from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, told T24.

He added that the ultimate aim of the fines is to silence the independent media.

International rights groups have repeatedly accused the RTUK of going all out to punish independent media in Turkey, and of acting as a tool of the authoritarian government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey ranked in 154th place out of 180 countries in 2020 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.

Call for Applications: Grants for Small Projects Focusing on Far-Right Extremism

Posted on December 1, 2021January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

Grants are offered to ten journalists, artists, academia or civil society activists that will have an opportunity to develop a concept that tackles these topics with the multidisciplinary approach.

Main focus of project proposals should be on exploring far-right symbols, radical groups and extremist ideologies in local communities of the Balkan countries, their connections and cooperation with other similar groups, especially those in Europe and the Middle East, the role of diaspora communities, disinformation efforts and online hubs.

Ten grantees will be selected on the basis of submitted applications. Grantees are expected to produce one project based on the proposal they submitted. Mentorship support will be provided by BIRN.

GENERAL RULES FOR CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

A maximum of 10 grants is awarded
Maximum amount per grant: EUR 2,000.00
Project duration: 6 months
Propose a plan for using various platforms, including how to reach targeted audience
Give a clear overview of their timeline
Each applicant may submit only one application under this grant scheme.

HOW TO APPLY

Application form content

Applications must be submitted in line with the instructions and guidance of this Call. The designated application form must be used.

Application Form should be completed in English language. Any error or major discrepancy related to the Application Form instructions may lead to its rejection.

Clarifications will only be requested when information provided is not sufficient to conduct an objective assessment. The Application Form must be filled out online, all additional documentation can be submitted in
the online format.

The application can be filled out by clicking the link below.

The application must be submitted by 23:59 CET, on December 20, 2021.

In case of additional inquires please contact us at: applications@birnnetwork.org

EVALUATION AND SELECTION

All received proposals will go through three phases:

PHASE I: Technical evaluation done by BIRN staff to ensure applicants followed application procedures and submitted all required documents.

PHASE II: Evaluation by Committee will be done in order to select applicants based on evaluation criteria including:

a) Quality of proposed idea
a) Multiplier effect of the project result
b) Innovation
c) Level of interactivity of the project
d) Ability to reach broad population

PHASE III: Notification of applicants and corrections (if necessary). Upon evaluation of applications, applicants will be notified. In case of suggestions (in case two or more applicants have similar submissions, proposals of different topics and such) applicants will have the option to submit another application, or to addend the existing application.

ADMINISTRATIVE AND ELIGIBILITY CHECK

During the administrative check the following will be assessed:

Compliance with the submission deadline. If the deadline has not been met, the application will automatically be rejected.

The Application Form satisfies all criteria specified above. If any of the requested information/document is missing or is incorrect, the application may be rejected on that sole basis and it will not be evaluated further.

The application that passes this check will be evaluated further as part of the quality assessment.

OPEN ONLINE APPLICATION

European Court Rejects Romanian Billionaire’s Claim Against Journalist

Posted on November 30, 2021January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR in Strasbourg on Tuesday ruled that a Romanian journalist did not violate billionaire Ion Țiriac’s right to private and family life with a newspaper report published in 2010.

The article written by the journalist from Financiarul newspaper, identified only as S.M., reported on the fortunes of 15 well-known Romanian public figures including Țiriac and their debts to the Romanian state.

But the ECHR’s judge said they had “ruled unanimously that there was no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights”.

The article said that only two of the 15 people listed owed more to the Romanian state than Tiriac.

“The millionaire also has additional debts through the company PAM SA,” the article said. It further alleged that the public figures listed were hiding money in “personal offshore accounts”.

It claimed that most businesspeople with debts to the Romanian state had connections to public procurement contracts.

In his petition to the ECHR, Tiriac claimed 130,000 euros in damages, claiming that the article violated his honour and dignity.

Tiriac argued that the journalist had failed to provide clear and accurate information, and pointed to numerous alleged falsehoods in the article, refuting many of the claims of financial chicanery, according to the ECHR decision.

Before it was brought to the ECHR, the case was previously dismissed by the Bucharest County Court on the grounds of journalistic freedom of expression.

The Bucharest court stated that the journalist had acted in good faith and that the article had been a combination of statements of fact and value judgments.

Tiriac appealed, but in 2015, the Bucharest Court of Appeal dismissed his objection, holding that the article had concerned a matter of public interest.

According to Forbes Romania, former tennis player Tiriac’s fortune was estimated at 1.44 billion euros in 2021. Tiriac has business interests in trading cars, real estate, retail, insurance, banking and various other sectors.

Moldovan Journalists Win Free Speech Case at European Court

Posted on October 12, 2021January 26, 2023 by BIRD

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday ruled in favour of RISE Moldova after the investigative media outlet was sued for defamation for an article alleging that there was offshore financing from Russia of the Moldovan Socialist Party’s presidential election campaign in 2016.

“The European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 10 [freedom of expression] of the European Convention on Human Rights,” the court said in a statement.

The court also awarded the plaintiffs 3,800 euros in damages, costs and expenses.

“Today’s decision is a strong encouragement for Moldovan journalists and investigative reporters to do their job honestly and without fear of frequent pressure from corrupt politicians, but also from intimidation from businessmen connected to public money,” the director of RISE Moldova, Iurie Sanduta, told BIRN.

According to the RISE Moldova investigation called ‘Dodon’s Bahamas Money’, the Socialist Party allegedly benefited from money coming from a secretive business with an offshore company in the Bahamas, which was connected to the Russian Federation.

The company allegedly transferred over 30 million Moldovan lei (about 1.5 million euros) to the party.

The money entered Moldova a few months before the 2016 presidential election through Exclusiv Media. Exclusiv Media is owned by Corneliu Furculita, a Socialist MP and childhood friend of Igor Dodon, who was running as the Socialist candidate in the election.

Based on loan agreements, millions of Moldovan lei flowed from the company to several who were members of the Socialist Party or close to it. The money was used to sponsor Dodon’s presidential campaign.

RISE Moldova’s journalists were sued by both Exclusiv Media and the Socialist Party back in November 2016.

The first-instance court ruled in favour of Exclusiv Media and the Socialists in December 2017, but RISE Moldova challenged the decision at the Moldovan Court of Appeal.

However, both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Justice rejected their legal challenges, so RISE Moldova’s director Sanduta filed a complaint to the European rights court in January 2019.

“Moldovan judges issued a decision in favour of Dodon, who had already become president. We decided to go to the ECHR and fight for freedom of expression because our investigation had a lot of evidence that exactly proved the facts described in the journalistic investigation,” added Iurie Sanduta.

In March 2020, RISE Moldova eventually won its domestic legal battle against Exclusiv Media at the Chisinau District Court.

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