Impunity

Turkey’s adventurism abroad is driven by opportunity and impunity

The number of journalists killed in retaliation for their work has jumped twice in 2020. Criminal and combat gangs target journalists working in both democratic and violence-ridden countries, shows a report by the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (JPC).

The UN's special rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Fabian Salvioli, said on Wednesday that measures to protect against COVID-19 in overcrowded jails should not lead to amnesties or pardons being granted to people convicted of serious violations of human rights, crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes.

The killing and kidnapping of journalists in Kosovo in the period from 1998 to 2000, the period that encompasses the mandate of the Specialist Chambers for KLA crimes must be the topic of the investigation of the Specialist Prosecutor's Office and prosecuted at the Specialist Chambers.

For a month now the campaign of Ilustrovana Politika, adviser to editor-in-chief Goran Kozic and outside collaborator Djordje Martic has been underway, proclaiming as innocent the defendants in case of murder Slavko Curuvija, claiming that there is not enough evidence against them, which would probably mean that the court should released those accused.

The commission's president, Veran Matic, said this on Thursday.

Matic said Tintor accused the Commission of "exerting pressure" in order for statements that were not given before the prosecution or the court to be inclued in the court procedure.

A report by Impunity Watch says the “highly troubled” state of transitional justice must be addressed urgently in the Balkans, where war crimes prosecutions are declining and nationalist rhetoric persists.

A  draft proposal on the safety of journalists during armed conflicts will be submitted by Greece during the 72nd General Assembly of the United Nations, which will be held this month.

Dunja Mijatovic has called on OSCE states to step up their investigations and identify and prosecute those who commit crimes against journalists.

The OSCE representative on Freedom of the Media issued this statement on November 2, International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Committed against Journalists.

International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists was marked on Monday at United Nations' Headquarters in New York.

The event was organized by UNESCO and chaired by Irina Bokova who underlined that “less than one in ten cases involving the killing of journalists are ever resolved“.