European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

“Karaivaz was one of Greece’s most prominent investigative journalists specialising in organised crime and police reporting when he was gunned down in broad daylight outside his Athens home on 9 April 2021”.

EFJ adds its voice to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights’s call for the release of journalists and civil society activists imprisoned in Azerbaijan for their legitimate work.

The escalation of threats and violence suffered by journalists in Novi Sad has reached an unprecedented level in the past fortnight, with no fewer than seven journalists being targeted.

The Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform report reviews threats to media freedom across the region in 2023.

In 2023, Russia became the country that imprisons most journalists in Europe (40); Belarus was the second worst offender, with 32. In Azerbaijan, the number of journalists detained almost quadrupled.

A recent report shows that France, Italy, Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden, and Finland want to legalise spying on journalists in the event of a threat to national security.

“The proposed law would effectively open the door to state-sponsored pressure on those media which receive foreign funding and produce journalism critical of the government” – MFRR partners

As the EU’s trialogue negotiations draw to a close, rights groups say that – in the absence of certain key provisions – the anti-SLAPP Directive will fail to counteract the growing problem of SLAPPs in the region.