ARTICLE 19 Europe joins a group of over 70 rights organisations and media outlets in expressing steadfast solidarity with the Italian Domani newspaper. Three of Domani’s reporters are facing up to 9 years in prison for doing their job. This latest example of legal harassment underscores the erosion of media freedom in Italy. Read the petition below.
Three of our reporters at Domani – Giovanni Tizian, Nello Trocchia, Stefano Vergine – are facing up to 9 years in prison. They are under investigation by Perugia Prosecutor’s Office for allegedly having requested and received confidential documents from a public official, and for allegedly breaching the secrecy of the investigation through the request and publication of information contained in those documents.
The investigation started in October 2022, after Domani published articles outlining a conflict of interest concerning Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto. We revealed that for years, before being appointed minister, he was paid by the arm industry as an advisor. The minister has never denied the information we published. Yet, he filed a complaint to the Italian judicial authorities with the aim of identifying our alleged source.
Following its adoption by European institutions, the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) aims to strengthen the protection of journalistic sources and strictly regulate the possibility for the judiciary to investigate these sources, under the guidance of an independent judge, and only in the context of investigations into a limited number of crimes.
In a complete break with the spirit of the EMFA, the decision by the Perugia prosecutor’s office to prosecute our reporters to identify their sources risks criminalising journalism.
What is happening to Domani has already been denounced by the main journalists’ trade unions and by organisations such as Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana, Media Freedom Rapid Response, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, European Federation of Journalists, Free Press Unlimited, International Press Institute, ARTICLE 19 Europe and OBC Transeuropa.
Without the possibility of verifying pieces of news, and without sources leaking secret information, investigative journalism would be hugely limited. Likewise, the freedom of the press would be limited, to the detriment of the public’s right to be informed about news of public interest that political and economic power tries to hide.
We fear that the current investigation on our reporters represents an attempt to breach the confidentiality of journalistic sources, and to silence our investigative reporting on members of the current government.
It is not the first time that members of the current Italian government have acted against Domani and other Italian media: strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), claims for damages, and intimidations are becoming more and more frequent in our country. With this call for support, we ask the Italian judicial and political authorities to respect the right to report, the freedom of the press and the public’s right to have independent media.
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS
- Amnesty International Italia
- ARTICLE 19
- Bulgarian Investigative Journalism Centre
- Civic Initiatives (Serbia)
- Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ)
- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
- Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
- Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (dju) in ver.di
- DİSK Basın-İş (Turkish Press and Printing Employees Union)
- Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ)
- European Centre for Press & Media Freedom (ECMPF)
- European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
- Federación de Asociaciones de Periodistas de España (FAPE)
- Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI)
- Foundation Atelier for Community Transformation (ACT)
- Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
- GCD (The Turkish Association of Journalists)
- Greenpeace Italia
- Human Rights Center Ghent University – Dirk Voorhoof, professor emeritus, Freedom of Expression
- Index on Censorship
- Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS)
- International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
- International News Safety Institute (INSI)
- International Press Institute (IPI)
- Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann (Catherine Dunne, chair, writer)
- Justice for Journalists (JFJ)
- Libera Informazione
- OBC Transeuropa
- Pištaljka (The Whistle)
- PEN International
- RECLAIM
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
- Peace Institute (Ljubljana)
- Society of Journalists (Warsaw)
- South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
- Statewatch
- The Good Lobby (Italia)
- The Turkish Association of Journalists (GCD)
- Trade Union of Croatian Journalist (TUCJ)