AEJ CALLS FOR AN END TO PROSECUTION THREAT AGAINST AUSTRIAN JOURNALISTS

In a Resolution adopted at its annual Assembly on 9 October 2010, the Association of European Journalists declared: “Austrian journalists are currently the subjects of a criminal investigation by German authorities for reporting details of a court case using pre-trial judicial papers. This does not constitute an offence under Austrian law. The Association of European Journalists, meeting in Ordu, Turkey, strongly urges the Bavarian state prosecutors and other German judicial authorities to drop all attempts to criminalise the activities of journalists reporting matters of public interest. We believe that the current investigation and threat of prosecution represents a threat to the principle of freedom of the press in a democracy.”