Thread by @OliverBOfficial

It's this particular environment that endangers critical journalism, and it's this particular environment that led towards Ján Kuciak's murder, as well as Daphne Galizia's. I really hope that it won't happen thrice.

cpj.org/blog/2020/04/s…

The EU has to enact now, if it

doesn't want to forfeit its raison d'être. What I mean by this is: If it cannot assure the security of journalists in its participating countries, then we can as well question its existence altogether. It's not all about free trade, we have to lecture our black sheep too; what

good is such power to tranquilly intervene in “proto-authoritarian” countries if you won't use it? Under such circumstances, we don't need to perform military interventions, we should use this calmness. The Slovenian government still has got a choice: Comply, or feel the

consequences. What might sound harsh to some is the reality we live in: We must not let journalists live in fear for their lives. And by compliance, I don't mean obedience to show trials. The governmental president and his ministers would be put on trial before the ICJ for

inciting violence against journalists and threatening press freedom as a basic human right, and the judges would rule over them. The most likely outcome would be a judicial ouster and subsequent snap elections, my personal prediction if this happened. I don't see a reason why the

EU should not intervene; Europol couldn't, and any other option including an international alliance would be well summed up in it. Anyone can feel free to change my mind, though. Otherwise, I stand hereby.

À propos: Jan Kuciak's murder was sentenced to eight years recently.

Justice was served finally, but other than that, nothing has changed. The #EU has got a chance to do it different now; this time, it was informed prior to any fatality; this time, the subject could survive.
[Also: Ján; as Duolingo reminds me all the time: Mind the accents]

The source for those who missed: dw.com/en/slovakia-ki…

As for Mr. Zgaga's case, a letter has been extended to the EU Commission, I would like to share it here as well: ecpmf.eu/letter-to-jour…

It would be another evidence of incapacity on the EU's behalf, that press freedom went to die in this unholy alliance. A union that

wants to promote the virtues of the free world but cannot preserve them on the inside. It's like a decaying creature pretending to be in good health. You cannot fool those who know better. You can only do better. And in the EU's case, it also should. Otherwise, everything uttered

in opposition to a rogue nation would be mere hypocrisy. And this also applies to murdered/arrested journalists (Re: Khashoggi; Wa Lone & Kyaw Soe Oo; Raif Badawi; etc.)

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