(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: Meeting of Ministers in charge of the media in the 41 countries of the Council of Europe Cracow (Poland), 15-17 June 2000 Russia, Turkey, Ukraine: the Council of Europe’s “bad pupils” Of the 41 states participating in the meeting of ministers in charge of media at […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release:
Meeting of Ministers in charge of the media in the 41 countries of the Council of Europe
Cracow (Poland), 15-17 June 2000
Russia, Turkey, Ukraine: the Council of Europe’s “bad pupils”
Of the 41 states participating in the meeting of ministers in charge of media at the Council of Europe, three countries do not respect the commitments they made regarding press freedom when they signed the European Convention on Human Rights. In defiance of repeated recommendations by the Council of Europe, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine are still seriously violating press freedom. In the Caucasian Republic of Chechnya (Russia) and the region of south-east Anatolia (Turkey) in which the Kurdish minority lives, laws of exclusion substantially reduce freedom. In Ukraine, media which criticise the government are still subjected to financial and political pressure, while the president’s power is being reinforced. Furthermore, of the three states whose application for admission to the Council of Europe is under examination – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina – Azerbaijan still applies repressive measures to the media.
Despite the request by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the suspension of Russia, the Committee of Ministers decided in May 2000 not to sanction that country. Yet none of the organisation’s demands concerning press freedom have been met, and Chechnya is more than ever an area where the rule of law does not apply and the war can continue without any witnesses. While there are no more independent Chechen media, access to the secessionist republic has for several months been subjected to the army’s granting of accreditation – something which is virtually impossible to obtain. Since the start of the war in October 1999 about ten foreign journalists have been arrested, interrogated by the Russian secret services and expelled from the war zones. Journalist Andrei Babitsky, Russian correspondent for the international station Radio Free Europe, arrested on 25 January 2000 and then detained in a “filtration” camp, is still under house arrest without trial. There is still no news of journalist Tassia Issaeieva, arrested on 1 June by the federal army under the pretext that she was working for a Chechen news agency. In the northern Caucasus, considered to be one of the most dangerous areas for journalists, at least 14 representatives of the press have been killed since 1994. About 20 journalists have been kidnapped since 1997. The French photographer Brice Fleutiaux, released on 12 June 2000, was held hostage for more than eight months.
In the rest of the country the authorities multiply threats and measures of intimidation to silence dissidents. After banning Chechen leaders from Russian media on 15 March, in May the government threatened to suspend media “hostile to Russian interests” and to draft a new bill aimed at limiting “abuse of press freedom”. At the same time, the tax police carried out spectacular searches at the head-office of the opposition press group Media-Most in Moscow. Journalists are furthermore still frequently attacked or murdered without any investigations being made into such cases. On 15 May 2000, a journalist with Novaya Gazeta, an independent investigation magazine, was seriously injured when hit with a hammer in front of his home. At least eight journalists have been killed since 1 January 1999.
In Turkey, 21 journalists have been murdered since 1988 for using their right to inform public opinion. These murders have rarely been punished. Four journalists are currently in jail for practising their profession, but close to 24 others are in detention without it being possible to ascertain whether it is for their professional activities or for political reasons. Moreover, in addition to the penal code which provides for prison sentences for press offences, the authorities use anti-terrorist laws to repress all democratic debate, especially on the Kurdish question. Thus, since the beginning of this year, there have been 30 arrests of journalists and about ten attacks by the police. Although cases of torture have declined, in 1999 four representatives of the press were physically abused when arrested. The emergency law in force in south-east Anatolia has enabled the authorities to close 13 pro-Kurd newspapers since 1 January 2000, without any explanation. During the same period, 16 television channels and 19 privately-owned radio stations were suspended by the Radio and Television Council, a state regulatory body, for a total of 2,726 days.
Despite threats of suspension issued in 1999 by the Council of Europe to Ukraine, the authorities of that country continued to disregard freedom to inform during the October 1999 presidential election. Opposition candidates had only very limited access to the public media and at least 25 privately-owned media were pressurised and censored. Since then, the 16 April 2000 referendum has further strengthened presidential powers. Fiscal measures such as heavy taxes imposed on the media as fees for using wavebands, and prohibitive fines for libel still strangle the independent press economically. In 1999, a total of 2,257 charges were laid against the media or individual journalists. A total of 90 billion hryvnas (14.7 million euros) in damages, equivalent to three times more than the annual budget of the country, were claimed. The courts sentenced the media to fines totalling 1.5 million hryvnas (300,000 euros). In 1999, about ten journalists were attacked and about twenty complained of threats received because of their professional activities. No investigations into these cases produced any conclusive results.
Of the three countries whose admission to the Council of Europe will be discussed by the organisation’s Parliamentary Assembly in June 2000, Azerbaijan still does not respect press freedom. Despite criticism from the Council of Europe, new articles in the media law were signed by the President of the Republic in February 2000. Three articles in particular are offending: articles 26 and 27 provide for the banning of printed matter that is considered “a betrayal of national security”, and article 50 provides for the withdrawal of the accreditation of any journalist suspected of having “spread false news”.
Furthermore, in these countries, the safety of representatives of the press is threatened. At least 14 journalists were attacked in 1999 and no less than 40 others were subjected to physical and psychological pressure. Since early 2000 police violence has increased. During a demonstration on 29 April 2000, about 15 journalists covering the event were injured. On 27 May the police occupied the editorial offices of the opposition daily Bu gun and manhandled the journalists present. Finally, in 1999, about 15 media were given heavy fines for “libel”, amounting to approximately 7 billion manat (1.2 million euros). Recently, The Monitor Weekly, a publication that is highly critical of the government, the newspaper Bakinski Bulvar and the Baku Printing Press, the country’s largest private printers and a member of the same group, were all temporarily suspended or closed.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, another candidate state for admission to the Council of Europe, the safety of journalists is still not guaranteed, despite efforts by the authorities and the international community. The attack last October in which the editor-in-chief of the daily Nezavisne novine – the only Serbian newspaper in the country to investigate war crimes – was seriously injured, was seen as a warning to all journalists working in that country.
In view of repeated abuses of power against press freedom in Turkey and Russia, Reporters Sans Frontières urges the Council of Europe to suspend these two states from the organisation for as long as they continue to flout the European Convention on Human Rights. Reporters Sans Frontières demands the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists jailed for press offences. The organisation also appeals to the authorities in those two countries to abolish prison sentences for press offences, as well as the special jurisdiction in Chechnya and south-east Anatolia, which transform these regions into lawless areas.
Reporters Sans Frontières urges the Council of Europe to demand that the Ukrainian government cease political and financial pressure on the independent press or be suspended from the organisation.
Reporters Sans Frontières requests that Azerbaijan’s admission to the Council of Europe be subject to amendments to its media law and particularly the revocation of articles 26, 27 and 50. RSF urges the authorities of Azerbaijan to put an end to police violence against representatives of the press.
Finally, RSF recommends that the Council of Europe pay particular attention to the safety of journalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
