2007 ORDINARY SESSION

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(First part)

REPORT

Seventh sitting

Thursday 25 January 2007 at 10 a.m.

THE PRESIDENT. – We now come to the debate under urgent procedure on threats to the lives and freedom of expression of journalists.

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Mr HERKEL (Estonia). – I want to begin with a famous remark that was made by Voltaire, the great French philosopher. He said, “I may not agree with what you are saying, but I will fight relentlessly to protect your right to say it.” That is probably the most fundamental principle. Unfortunately, some of our countries and governments, in today’s world, do not understand that deeply humanistic approach.

I always try to follow reports from Freedom House and Reporters without Borders. According to Freedom House, most of the countries in the world are not free with regard to the media, or are only partly free. A minority of countries are free, and they have a real pluralistic media. We also know that among the countries that are not free are some member states of the Council of Europe. That is unfortunate.

On the report, I had the opportunity to work with the rapporteur, Mr McIntosh, during the production of our report on Belarus on the eve of presidential elections. I know what a good specialist he is in the field of the media.

A year ago, there was an attempt to write a report about the freedom of the media in Russia and Mr McIntosh was appointed rapporteur, but it was decided to handle all the necessary questions in the Monitoring Committee as an aspect of Russia’s fulfilment of its obligations. Unfortunately, only the murders of Anna Politkovskaya and Hrant Dink have given us the opportunity to discuss this extremely important topic in the plenary meeting today.

I would like to remember other journalists in unresolved murder cases: Mr Gongadze from Ukraine, who was mentioned by the rapporteur; Mr Huseynov from Azerbaijan; and many unexplained cases in Russia, including Vladislav Listyev, Igor Domnikov and Yuri Shekotshichin, and the recent case of Gerasimenko mentioned in the report.

I have strong personal feelings about the case of Mr Bahaddin Khaziyev, mentioned in the first paragraph of the report. Mr Gross and I met him in hospital in Baku after he was beaten and humiliated with unbelievably cruelty. I also met Anna Politkovskaya. I say to Mr Slutsky that she was a humanist; she was never involved with terrorists. She protected the people in Chechnya.

I fully support the recommendations. I would like to have more reports on journalists discussed in the Chamber. As the Rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee, I would find that helpful.

Nobody has mentioned public service broadcasting, but that needs protection in some countries. In addition, defamation cases can too easily be used as a weapon against journalists.