Media NGOs demand that authorities guarantee protection for Ziarul de Garda journalists
Mass media nongovernmental organizations express their concern about the harassment and intimidation of the journalists of the investigation weekly Ziarul de Garda and demand that the authorities should insure the protection of the Ziarul de Garda staff.
A statement signed by seven NGOs says that the people’s right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights and by the Constitution of Moldova. “Moreover, in accordance with article 1 of the Law on the Press, the state should guarantee the right to express one’s opinions and ideas and to true information about national and international events,” the statement reads.
The signatories of the statement call on the civil society, political parties and representatives of the European organizations to make common cause with the intimidated journalists and oppose the suppression of the pluralism and freedom of speech in Moldova. The NGOs also demand that the relevant bodies investigate the case and punish the persons that groundlessly limit the right to information and free expression.
The statement was signed by the Independent Journalism Center, the Independent Press Association, the Electronic Press Association, the Investigative Journalism Center, the Young Journalist’s Center, the Journalists’ Union of Moldova, and Acces-Info Center.
Last week, the team of Ziarului de Garda announced that it was being subjected to pressure and threatened by phone and email after it had published an article titled “Torrid Summer at SIS”. The article was about an employee of the Security and Information Service, who would have illegally obtained the contact data of a group of young men in order to recruit them for a mission. REPORTER.MD
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