11/10/2012 Culture, Science, Education and Media
Strasbourg, 11.10.2012 – PACE’s Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media, in a wide-ranging assessment of the state of media freedom in Europe, has demanded that Council of Europe member States properly investigate and hold liable the instigators of attacks on investigative journalists and those working with them.
The report, prepared by Mats Johansson (Sweden, EPP/CD), approved last week by the committee and made public today, makes specific recommendations to a number of states:
Russia: the Russian President’s investigative committee, set up in 2011, should continue the work of prior investigative bodies, publish its work, and establish rules for judicial supervision in order to combat impunity for numerous murders of journalists and human rights defenders.
Turkey: Article 301 of Turkey’s Penal Code should be immediately repealed, since the revision of 2008 has not resolved the problem that this can be applied unduly against journalists and others. Meanwhile, the sheer number of criminal investigations against journalists – particularly for their reports on the “Ergenekon” conspiracy – is itself an indication of “a serious violation of media freedom”.
Hungary: the recent amendments to Hungary’s 2010 media laws do not prevent the abuse of these laws for restricting media freedom, and the changes requested by the Commissioner for Human Rights in February 2011 should be fully implemented.
Belarus: the 2000 disapperance of photo journalist Dmitry Zavadsky and the 2010 death of “Charter 97” website founder Alah Byabenin should be properly investigated, Ales Bialiatski and Anton Suryapin should be released immediately, and penalties and prosecutions against a number of other journalists should be dropped.
The committee also deplores the excessive application of criminal laws on defamation in Azerbaijan and Turkey as well as excessive legal actions in Armenia, Bulgaria and Moldova. Biased election media environments recently identified in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine should be remedied.