Vienna, 05/04/2018
The Vienna South East Europe Media Organistion (SEEMO) called on authorities in Praha to ensure free and independent work of journalists.
Three Czech investigative journalists, Sabina Slonková from the news website Neovlivní . Jaroslav Kmenta from the monthly publication Reportér and Janek Kroupa, from Czech public radio station issued a joint statement that said the police and the General Inspection of Security Corps (GIBS) tried in the past few months to intimidate them by repeatedly bringing in for questioning in connection to reports on Prime Minister Andrej Babis (Andrej Babiš).
“We are convinced that these investigations are to confuse and intimidate us and our sources and prevent us from further work,” the journalists wrote.
Police denied in a statement over social media that they tried to intimidate the journalists. According to the police they were following criminal proceedings supervised by the state attorney’s office.
SEEMO is alarmed about this case and clear violation of media freedom and is asking for an urgent and transparent investigation of all what happened.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.