It took five months for Hungary to acknowledge publicly that it had bought the Pegasus spyware allegedly used to hack the phones of hundreds around the world. In November, Lajos Kósa, a top official from Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, acknowledged the purchase in a media interview after a parliamentary meeting; Minister of the Interior Sándor Pintér confirmed it in front of a visiting delegation from the European Parliament it later in the month.
English
03. dec 2021.
CPJ welcomes convictions in retrial for Serbian journalist Slavko Ćuruvija’s murder
In a retrial today, the Higher Court in Belgrade convicted four former Serbian state security officers of the 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, owner of the mass-circulation Dnevni Telegraf, Serbia’s first private daily, and the weekly magazine Evropljanin, independent regional news website Balkan Insight reported. Ćuruvija, 51, was shot and killed on April 11, 1999, outside his home near the Yugoslav Parliament building.
English
03. dec 2021.
Convictions overturned and retrial ordered for murder of Serbian journalist Ćuruvija
The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, today expressed dismay after a court in Belgrade overturned the convictions of those found guilty of the 1999 murder of Serbian journalist Slavko Ćuruvija and ordered a retrial.
English
02. dec 2021.
Enemy of the State: How a Serbian Journalist Became a Shooting Target
As a court delivers its verdict on the alleged killers of Serbian newspaper editor Slavko Curuvija in 1999, some of his closest allies look back on his career and explain why Slobodan Milosevic’s regime targeted him.
English
30. nov 2021.
IPI Board: Let Maria Ressa travel to Oslo, drop all charges
Leading editors from 22 countries underscore global solidarity with Nobel Peace Prize laureate
English
23. nov 2021.
Local trainers in the Western Balkans prepared to conduct online courses on “Freedom of Expression” and “Protection and Safety of Journalists”
The Council of Europe standards on freedom of expression can be more effectively implemented by offering training in this field to different local actors such as judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police officers or students who could then apply these standards in their current or future work. This should contribute to the creation of a favourable environment for exercising freedom of expression and freedom of the media at the domestic level.
English
16. nov 2021.
Using Comics, Music, and Theater to Bring Investigative Journalism to New Audiences
Convoca, a digital investigative platform based in Peru, wanted to show how people poisoned by lead released from heavy industry were also struggling with COVID-19. Their chosen medium: comics. Milagros Salazar Herrera, the director and founder of Convoca, a GIJN-member, said the team chose an interactive comic to tell the story because “that could help…
English
14. nov 2021.
Suspended sentence for death threat to Serbia’s daily editor-in-chief
On the occasion of threatening the editor-in-chief of Danas, Dragoljub Petrovic, the High Court in Belgrade sentenced a man from Belgrade Lazarevac suburb to one year in prison, suspended for three years, for the criminal offence of endangering security after five years, the daily said on Friday.
English
06. nov 2021.
IPI welcomes U.S. blacklisting of NSO Group over Pegasus spyware abuses
The IPI global network today welcomes the decision by the United States government to blacklist Israeli company NSO Group over the abuse of its spyware technology Pegasus to target journalists and others, and urged other democratic countries around the world to follow the Biden administration’s lead by sanctioning and regulating the technology.
English
02. nov 2021.
Uruguay to host 2022 World Press Freedom Day Conference
Uruguay will be the next host of the World Press Freedom Day global conference.
English
02. nov 2021.
Impunity Day: Insufficient progress in solving killings of journalists
IPI renews call to end the culture of impunity for crimes against journalists around the world
English
19. okt 2021.
Two men on trial accused of murdering Dutch crime reporter Peter R De Vries
Two men have gone on trial in the Netherlands charged with the murder of Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries.
English
12. okt 2021.
Safety of journalists: What to expect from the announced amendments to the Criminal Code
The former Criminal Code left too much space for anyone wishing to harm or intimidate journalists to do that and not be punished. And this is exactly what is the greatest contribution of these amendments: that space will shrink considerably and prosecution and police will have legal grounds to act in many situations in which ‘their hands were tied’ previously.
English
08. okt 2021.
Nobel laureates show importance of free press in advancing peace
IPI congratulates its Executive Board member Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for winning the Nobel Peace Prize 2021
English
07. okt 2021.
Journalists’ profiles must be restored on LinkedIn’s China site, CPJ says
LinkedIn should immediately restore journalists’ blocked profiles in China, be transparent about the process that leads to profile takedowns, and ensure that the company does not facilitate the global export of Chinese censorship of reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
English
01. okt 2021.
Still no justice for Khashoggi, three years after his murder
October 2 marks the third anniversary of the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a heinous act for which justice is still denied. The IPI global network strongly condemns the continued impunity in the case and calls on the international community to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the murder.
English
23. sep 2021.
Hate, Lies and Vigilantes: Serbian ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Brigade Plays With Fire
They like patriotic rallies and patrolling the streets. They dislike vaccines, migrants and “the system”. And they have the support of one in 10 Serbs on Facebook.
English
14. sep 2021.
Bosnian Women Journalists and Advocates Receive Death Threats for Supporting Refugees
SARAJEVO—“Those prostitutes … should be lynched so they remember whom they’re dealing with,” read one comment on a Bosnian “anti-migrant” Facebook group post targeting Zehida Bihorac. Other comments were even more explicit, detailing graphic and sexually violent threats. Bihorac is a teacher and human rights defender known for assisting “people on the move” (the term preferred by…
English
27. avg 2021.
With new foreign agent labels, Russia steps up attack on independent media
The IPI global network today condemned what it called the biggest crackdown on independent media in Russia in several years and urged international condemnation of the escalating assault on media freedom by the Kremlin ahead of next month’s parliamentary election.
English
24. avg 2021.
Tabloid Kurir, known to be close to the government, is suing independent media and one NGO claiming damages of close to 100 000 Euros
The publisher of the pro-government tabloid Kurir, Adria Media Group, has filed a lawsuit in the Commercial Court in Belgrade against publishers of independent portals Cenzolovka, Raskrikavanje, and Javni Servis, as well as against a publisher of daily Danas, and non-governmental organization Centar za Interkulturnu Komunikaciju and is asking damages of 11 million Dinars, or close to 100 000 Euros, claiming reputational damage.