The letter notes the persistence of serious issues in Greece, including surveillance, threats, harassment, physical attacks, and murders of journalists. It also cites government pressure on editorial and media independence, including Greece’s public broadcaster, as well as legal threats, such as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and criminal defamation.

The organizations asked national authorities to provide, in writing, an overview of the steps being considered to address the concerns, and to establish a national action plan.

Read the full letter here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Dimitriadis filed two lawsuits against newspaper EFSYN and online investigative portal Reporters United and their journalists, requesting a total of 555,000 euros (USD598,000) in compensation and damages after, in June 2022, the outlets published revelations about Dimitriadis’ connection to the surveillance scandal at a time when he oversaw the National Intelligence Agency. The first hearing will be held in an Athens court on January 25, 2024.

“The undersigned international freedom of expression and media freedom organisations today renew our condemnation of a groundless defamation lawsuit filed against Greek journalists and media by Grigoris Dimitriadis, the nephew of the Prime Minister, and urge the plaintiff to urgently withdraw the lawsuit ahead of an upcoming hearing,” the statement said. “Rather than being targeted by financially and psychologically draining lawsuits, both Reporters United and EFSYN instead deserve credit for their watchdog reporting.”

Read the full statement here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On February 16, members of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, a Turkish government body that oversees religious issues, confiscated and damaged equipment from three Greek freelance journalists while they were in the eastern city of Antakya covering the aftermath of an earthquake that struck the area earlier that month, according to a report published March 20 by the Media and Law Studies Association nongovernmental organization, MLSA co-chair Veysel Ok, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, and one of those journalists.

“Turkish authorities must conduct a swift and through investigation regarding the complaints of Greek journalists Kyriakos Finas, Victoras Antonopoulos, and Konstantinos Zilos who had their equipment confiscated and smashed as they were documenting the recent earthquake in eastern Turkey,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “These journalists should be compensated for their equipment and their lost footage, and authorities should ensure that such incidents are not repeated.”

Journalists Kyriakos Finas, Victoras Antonopoulos, and Konstantinos Zilos were covering a mass funeral after the earthquake when members of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, accompanied by military police, ordered them to stop recording the procession, according to Ok and Finas, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

Finas and Antonopoulos heard that order and stopped filming, but Zilos was further from the scene and continued working. Police then took all three journalists to a building owned by the religious affairs office where they confiscated their cameras and phones, Finas and Ok said.

Authorities returned their equipment the following day, but all of it was smashed and broken. Finas told CPJ that they lost all the footage they took in Turkey, and that the loss of their phones and cameras were a significant financial hardship for each journalist.

After the journalists returned to Greece, the Turkish Embassy in Athens contacted them and promised to give them new equipment, Finas said, adding that they had not received any new gear by Monday, March 21.

Ok, who is also a lawyer representing the journalists, told CPJ that he plans to file suit this week seeking damages over the incident.

CPJ emailed the Turkish Interior Ministry, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, and the Turkish Embassy in Athens for comment but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.