EU Commissioner calls for action to bring Dink killers to justice

PanARMENIAN.Net - More than 100 journalists have been murdered in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states over the past 20 years, Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg said.

In his ‘Comment’ article, the commissioner notes the deaths of Hrant Dink in Turkey, Georgy Gongadze in Ukraine and Elmar Huseynov in Azerbaijan and points to the fifth anniversary later this week (October 7) of the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

He says that many, many more reporters have been attacked or have received threats in the course of their professional activities and urges more effective action to bring the killers and their handlers to justice. “No effort must be spared to apprehend and bring to justice not only the actual killers, but also those who ordered these murders,” the commissioner adds. “Freedom of the media is essential for the protection of all other human rights.

“There are many examples where misuses of power, corruption, discrimination and even torture have come to light because of the work of investigative journalists. The purpose of journalism is not to please those who hold power or to be the mouthpiece of governments – the most important role is to be public watchdogs.”