The International Press Institute (IPI), as part of the MFRR welcomed the first conviction for the 2017 murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia as an important step forward in the path to full justice for her assassination.

IPI also welcomed the indictment of two individuals accused of supplying the bomb that killed her and expressed hope the developments would help bring the mastermind to justice.

In 2018, Serbian journalist Milan Jovanovic was the victim of an arson attack on his house in Belgrade after investigating cases of corruption of local public officials.

Judicial proceedings against the suspected arsonists started in 2019 and have since then been delayed numerous times after frequent requests of postponement advanced by the defense lawyers. These procedural tactics, which also include attempts to disqualify judges appointed to this case, have seriously delayed justice for Jovanovic.

On 23 February 2021, the court sentenced former Grocka mayor Dragoljub Simonovic to four years and three months of prison for having ordered the arson attack on Jovanovic’s house in December 2018. The court also sentenced Vladimir Mihailovic and Aleksandar Marinkovic in absentia to four years in jail. Mr Marinkovic was sentenced for perpetrating the arson attack; however, his whereabouts have been unknown since the start of proceedings. This sentence sets an important precedent for ensuring that those who commit crimes against journalists in Serbia – so often met with impunity – are brought to justice.

Update: On 8th Februrary, Evertsson and Andersson were acquitted by the first-tier court in the city of Gothenburg

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) to stress the journalistic nature of the investigation carried out in the public interest and call for the acquittal of the two documentary makers.

The “MS Estonia”, a 157-metre long cruise ferry, was en route from Tallinn to Stockholm in September 1994 when it sank in international waters in less than half an hour with 989 people on board. It is known as one of Europe’s greatest maritime disasters, killing 852 people. Yet the causes of the shipwreck remain murky. The official version based on the 1997 investigation – that there had been a failure of the vessel’s retractable ramp – had been disputed for years by the survivors and relatives of the victims.

Broadcast on 28 September 2020 on Discovery Channel, the documentary entitled “Estonia: the discovery that changes everything” revealed the existence of a previously unknown four-metre hole in the hull of the ship. It was filmed with a remotely-operated camera attached to an underwater vehicle. Evertsson and Andersson are accused of illegally entering a protected site considered as a grave following the 1995 agreement between Sweden, Estonia and Finland, which bans any exploration of the area.

IPI urged UKOM to ensure that journalists from all media outlets were given adequate opportunity to question ministers at online government press conferences.

On February 3, 2021, Slovenia’s public broadcaster, RTV Slovenija, reported that Bojana Beović, head of the advisory group at the Ministry of Health, was denied permission to appear on its late-night news show Odmevi to comment on false positive results in rapid antigen tests.

RTVSLO reported that in response to emailed interview requests, it received a message saying that UKOM Director Uroš Urbanija had “forbidden” officials from providing answers to media or giving interviews.

It was later reported that Education Minister Simona Kustec, Milan Krek, director of the National Institute of Public Health, and other health officials were also refused permission to appear on commercial television station Kanal A to give interviews on the testing system.

UKOM’s policy was condemned by both the Slovenian Union of Journalists (SNS) and the Slovene Association of Journalists (DNS) as an act of censorship, though the government body has rejected the criticism.