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Media Event in Germany Exposes Harsh Crackdown on Journalists

July 11—Several German journalists held a public roundtable discussion this past week in Berlin to expose the vicious crackdown on independent journalists and news outlets, especially those who are attempting to expose the truth concerning the Ukraine, Middle East and other wars. The event was entitled: “Work Ban and Ostracism: German Journalists End Up on Russia Sanctions List. What To Do Now?” The discussion featured journalists Florian Warweg (NachDenkSeiten), Roberto de Lapuente (Overton Magazin), Tilo Gräser (Hintergrund), and Nick Brauns (Junge Welt), and was moderated by Rüdiger Göbel.

The press release/announcement for the event read in part:

“With its latest package of sanctions against Russia, the European Union has for the first time also imposed punitive measures against press representatives from Germany. In addition to the journalists Alina Lipp, and Thomas Röper, who work in Russia, the Berlin-based Hüseyin Doğru, founder of the left-wing project Red Media, is also affected. The journalists have been banned from entering EU countries. Their bank accounts have been blocked, assets frozen and family members detained. The EU ban measures also include the provision of funds and other economic resources. The sanctions are tantamount to total incapacitation and disenfranchisement. They result in a ban on working in Germany and social ostracism.

“Those affected are deprived of their civil livelihood by a bureaucratic act without trial or court judgment because they report critically on the role of the West in the war in Ukraine or Gaza. In the alleged fight against ‘disinformation,’ critical journalism that questions the official narratives of the EU and NATO is being deprived of its footing. The EU punitive measures are a turning point and a dangerous precedent. At a time when Germany is being trimmed to be ‘fit for war,’ critical voices are in danger of being silenced and the public subjected to a totalitarian EU truth regime.”

The journalists highlighted the particularly heinous latest case involving German citizen Hüseyin Doğru, journalist and founder of the Turkish media company AFA Medya. Doğru put out a call for help on July 1 on Platform X, because he and his wife, who is several months pregnant with twins, have lost their health insurance coverage, and he cannot pay any bills—because all their bank accounts have been frozen. He is neither allowed to leave Germany, nor to work inside Germany.

This is due to the fact that at the end of May, the EU put him on a Russian sanctions list with the approval of the German government, for reporting on protests against the genocide in Gaza. There have been no charges, no trial, no legal procedure whatsoever. The first he even heard about any action, or even an investigation, was when he received a letter in late May, stating that all of his bank accounts were frozen!

The journalists on the panel noted that it would be illegal, under the EU sanctions law, for anyone to hire Doğru, help him obtain legal counsel, financially support him, even buying him a beer. Anyone doing that could face legal charges for “aiding a sanctioned person.” Several of the journalists said that they thought Doğru was especially targeted, because of his wife’s situation, and to make a “terrible example” for others who might dare step out of line by reporting the truth. They want to launch an immediate campaign to bring attention to and obtain a reversal of the Russian sanction laws.

Videos were also sent in for the event from German journalists Alina Lipp and Thomas Röper, whom Helga Zepp-LaRouche mentioned on the July 4, IPC meeting. They were both also smacked with sanctions by the EU, but are now living and working in Russia, so are less severely affected. The panel also showed a video of Claire Daley raising the case of Doğru at a EU meeting recently. 

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