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Council of Europe: Wiretapping journalists violate human rights

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Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Nils Muižnieks, in an exclusive statement to META news agency, expressed his “serious concern” about recent developments in Macedonia and especially wiretapping of journalists, announced yesterday at a press conference of the opposition SDSM.

– I am very concerned at the allegations concerning mass and unauthorized surveillance of journalists and citizens in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. These are serious allegations which deserve effective and independent investigations. Several human rights are in fact at stake here, not least media freedom and the protection of journalists’ sources, rights which enjoy strong safeguards under the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. The Macedonian authorities have to promptly shed light on the events and in case the allegations are confirmed, they should ensure that those responsible are held accountable and the practice no longer used – emphasized Muižnieks.

Macedonian authorities must quickly explain events, and if the allegations are confirmed, those responsible must be held responsible and the use of this practice must stop, said Muižnieks for META today after his meeting in Brussels with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) which also issued a statement on the latest information for tapped journalists.

President of EFJ, Mogens Bjeregard, said that this violation directly affects media freedom in Macedonia, by fostering a climate of fear and self-censorship.

– If the allegations are confirmed, then the Macedonian authorities clearly violated the right of journalists to protect their sources – says Bjeregard.

Muižnieks and EFJ this morning had a meeting at which was discussed about the poor state of media freedom in Macedonia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Commissioner promised European journalists that he will intervene everywhere where there is violation of the freedom of the media during his tenure.

Council of Europe is 47-member organization based in Strasbourg, whose main area of activity is human rights and democratic standards.

Council of Europe and the European Union are two different organizations.

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