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Violations of Media Freedom in Albania

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June 2002 Vol. 14, No. 5 (D) ALBANIA THE COST OF SPEECH: Violations of Media Freedom in Albania SUMMARY ...............................................................................................................................................................3 RECOMMENDATIONS ...........................................................................................................................................6 BACKGROUND......................................................................................................................................................10 INTIMIDATION AND VIOLENT ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS ....................................................................11 Summary of Findings ...........................................................................................................................................11 Cases of Intimidation and Violent Attacks...........................................................................................................12 Attacks on Fatmir Terziu..................................................................................................................................12 The Attack on Artan Hoxha..............................................................................................................................15 The Attack and Detention of Flamur Hasbegu.................................................................................................15 The Detention of Kujtim Boriçi........................................................................................................................17 Cases Related to the 2001 Elections.....................................................................................................................18 The Attack on the “Election Cameraman” .......................................................................................................18 The Attack on the Election Commissioner.......................................................................................................19 The Detention of Enis Fani...............................................................................................................................19 Denial of access to government institutions and information ..............................................................................20 Chilling Effects of Violence and Intimidation .....................................................................................................21 DEFAMATION TRIALS.........................................................................................................................................22 Summary of Findings ...........................................................................................................................................22 Overview of Legal Standards ...............................................................................................................................24 Freedom of Expression in International Law and Practice...............................................................................24 Freedom of Expression under the Albanian Constitution.................................................................................26 Breaches in Law ...................................................................................................................................................27 Albanian Criminal Defamation Laws...............................................................................................................27 Albanian Civil Defamation Laws.....................................................................................................................30 Breaches in Legal Practice ...................................................................................................................................31 Case of Petro Koçi v. Astrit Patozi...................................................................................................................31 Case of Ndre Legisi v. Artan Hoxha ................................................................................................................32 Case of Monika Kryemadhi v. Astrit Patozi.....................................................................................................35 Case of Monika Kryemadhi v. Redin Hafizi ....................................................................................................40 Case of Monika Kryemadhi v. Shemsi Peposhi ...............................................................................................42 Case of Skënder Gjinushi v. Pandi Gjata .........................................................................................................44 Chilling Effects of Defamation Laws and Judicial Decisions..............................................................................46 GOVERNMENT MISUSE OF STATE ADVERTISING .......................................................................................47 The Legal Framework–and Its Pitfalls .................................................................................................................48 An Egregious Case Of Official Abuse–the National Privatization Agency .....................................................50 Discriminatory and Politically Motivated Allocation of State Advertising .........................................................51 State Advertising as Subsidies to the Media–and the Korrieri Affair..................................................................53 Effects of Abusive Allocation of State Advertising .............................................................................................54 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................55 APPENDIX A: CIRCULATION AND AFFILIATION OF NEWS DAILIES......................................................56 APPENDIX B: LETTER TO ALBANIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR...............................................................57 APPENDIX C: LETTER TO NATIONAL PRIVATIZATION AGENCY............................................................59 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .....................................................................................................................................61 Human Rights Watch 2 June 2002, Vol. 14, No. 5 (D) SUMMARY This report looks at the situation of media freedoms in Albania, more than a decade after the Balkan nation started a transition from totalitarianism to democracy and rule of law. Like the progress of that transition in general, respect for media freedoms and other human rights has followed a rough path of ups and downs since 1990. While Albania has left behind the vicious suppression and isolation that marked its decades under Stalinist-style governance, the legacy of that regime continues to haunt it. The findings of this report suggest that the transition is far from over. The report, which covers for the most part events of 2000 and 2001, focuses on three particular areas of concern: intimidation and violent attacks on journalists, defamation trials against the press, and political interference with the allocation of state advertising to media outlets. The report is based on three weeks of research conducted in Albania in late 2001, primarily through interviews with Albanian journalists, editors, media managers, media development experts, government officials, and lawyers. The findings on defamation trials and state advertising practices are based to a large extent on documentary materials, such as judicial decisions, trial records where available, and statistical surveys. Human Rights Watch investigators found that Albanian journalists, especially those based in provinces outside the capital Tirana, are subjected to widespread intimidation and physical attacks. Journalists have been targets of serious and repeated threats against them and their families, unlawful and arbitrary arrests, and severe beatings and other physical assaults. Not only journalists affiliated with opposition newspapers and televisions stations, but also reporters working for unaffiliated outlets have been so targeted. What makes such violence even more troubling is that the perpetrators are often police officers or government officials who retaliate against press criticism or reporting of official misconduct, such as alleged corruption or human rights violations. Recently, intimidation and physical assaults against the media reached a peak during the June 2001 election period and the subsequent run-offs. The report describes three serious incidents from that time, which suggest that the central and local authorities were responsible for widespread and possibly coordinated actions to restrict the free flow of information during the election period. At all times, however, the Albanian police tend to interfere with the right of the press to cover police activities, betraying a lack of awareness about police accountability and the media’s role as a public watchdog in a democratic society. But the police are by no means the only institution that ignores the right of the public to be informed on issues of general concern. Albania’s new Constitution and its 1999 freedom of information law have yet to be implemented to dismantle the inherited wall of official secrecy that surrounds much of the public administration, including the judiciary. Violence against journalists goes virtually unpunished in Albania: not a single
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