GREECE: Growing protection concerns as journalists targeted by violent actors

Expression

Attacks on media professionals by non-state violent actors

On 20th January 2019, during a protest opposing the Greek government’s approval of the name change of Macedonia to North Macedonia, several reporters, photojournalists and cameramen were allegedly assaulted and harassed by protesters. According to the victims accounts, the perpetrators are believed to be affiliated with the far-right extremists movement. The Union of Greek photojournalists (EFE) reported that at least five photojournalists were deliberately attacked and injured by violent protesters and some of their equipment was stolen. The following cases were reported by the international media rights watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the respective media employers of the affected journalists. (See more details on the 20th January protest in the Peaceful Assembly section below)

• A correspondent for the French daily newspaper La Croix, Thomas Jacobi, reported of being attacked while he attempted to take photos and videos of the clashes in Athens between police and far-right supporters. He alleged that perpetrators who belonged to the far-right party Golden Dawn beat him, resulting in him being hospitalised for a night. The perpatrators destroyed his camera and demanded him to erase videos of the demonstration from his phone. Jacobi is the co-producer of the 2016 critical documentary on the Golden Dawn party, titled “Golden Dawn: A Personal Affair”. During the attack, he recorded the attackers asking him whether he was the journalist behind the Golden Dawn party documentary film.
• Violent demonstrators also attacked Kostis Dadamis working with Sputnik Greece who was subsequently taken to a hospital after receiving a head injury, according to Sputnik Greece. He also had his camera equipment stolen. According to preliminary reports, he was attacked by a group of protesters after refusing to give them his camera. Other journalists who came to help have also been reportedly attacked.
• A crew employed by the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, ERT (in Greek: Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi, ΕΡΤ), the Greece’s state-owned radio and television broadcaster, was also attacked by “extremists elements“. Cameraman Costas Papadatos and journalist Elina Kolivka were verbally harassed and afterwards, according to Papadatos, he was hit on his back and in his face while the police stood by.

The Board of Directors of the Union of Photojournalists of Greece denounced the attacks on photojournalists covering the 20th January 2019 protests and claimed that “there is a clear suspicion that the current attack may have been planned in advance and that photojournalists in the demonstrations were the target” (Translated from Greek). Further the Union called on the authorities to condemn the attack and urged them to reconsider its rhetoric to ensure it does not contribute to such incidents and to “such fascist attacks” against people and freedom of the press.

In relation to these attacks against media professionals,the CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator urged the Greek authorities to investigate the incidents and stated:

“Authorities should speak out forcefully against attempts to intimidate the media, and ensure that journalists can freely and safely cover events of public interest.”

In a separate incident on 14th May 2019, the car of a well-known police reporter for the CNN’s Greek edition, Mina Karamitrou, was destroyed in an arson attack. Karamitrou believes the attack was related to her reporting on the case of the leader of the disbanded leftist terror group, “November 17”, Dimitris Koufodinas, who is currently serving 11 life sentences for murders committed while he was affiliated with the group. CNN Greece called the incident “an attack on the entire journalistic world” and CPJ urged that “journalists’ safety and well-being must be ensured, and protective measures are often critical for those who cover crime.”

Σε μια δημοκρατική κοινωνία η ελευθερία του Τύπου, την οποία η Μίνα Καραμήτρου υπηρετεί, είναι αδιαπραγμάτευτη. Η στοχοποίησή της, όπως και η άθλια ενέργεια εναντίον της, είναι απαράδεκτη και καταδικαστέα και οι δράστες θα λογοδοτήσουν.

— Δημήτρης Τζανακόπουλος (@d_tzanakopoulos) May 14, 2019