The International Press Institute (IPI) repeated its demand for the release of Roman Protasevich, former editor of the NEXTA Telegram channel in Belarus, after he appeared on state television to offer a forced “confession”. The disturbing segment was broadcast Thursday night on Belarus’s ONT channel. Protasevich praised Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and admitted seeking to […]

India’s Supreme Court ruled this week that the government could not pursue sedition charges against journalists merely for their criticism of the authorities. The International Press Institute (IPI) welcomes the decision as an important pushback against India’s increasing legal harassment of the press. In a decision published on June 3, the Supreme Court, citing previous […]

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) is deeply concerned by the lawsuit targeted at a journalist and the editor-in-chief of the Network for Investigation of Crime and Corruption (KRIK) by the director of Serbia’s Security-Information Agency (BIA). The MFRR urges the BIA director Bratislav Gasic to immediately withdraw the civil lawsuit against KRIK and to […]

A court in The Philippines dismissed a cyber libel case against IPI Executive Board member Maria Ressa after the plaintiff in the case withdrew. The plaintiff, businessman Wilfredo Keng, claimed he was withdrawing from the case to focus on „helping out with the pandemic“. Ressa had been accused of cyber libel when she tweeted screenshots […]