MP

The Spartiates (Spartans) party leader Vassilis Stigas is facing mutiny as nine out of 12 lawmakers from the far-right party issued a statement condemning his response to a party MP's public support for Ilias Kasidiaris' bid to run for the position of mayor of Athens.

Europe's leading LGBT rights organisation, ILGA-Europe has criticised Serbia and Turkey for their handling of LGBT community rights in its latest Rainbow Map and Index.

The report says the pushbacks LGBT communities are facing in these countries "can also be seen in the challenge to freedom of assembly amid the rise of anti-democratic forces".

Ilias Kasidiaris, a former Golden Dawn party MP, who was handed a prison sentence of 13 years, speaking during the Golden Dawn trial in Athens, October 21, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/PANTELIS SAITAS

Politicians and public figures under attack

There has been an increasing number of cases involving the political of targeting of critics in the period from January to March. Such actions have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and the press, as well as on the ability of civil society to hold governments accountable for their actions.

Presidential candidates Andrija Mandic and Milo Djukanovic billboards in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo: BIRN/Samir Kajosevic

Ljubljana – Last week has shown whose servants are the many journalist who were calling for journalistic autonomy under the previous, SDS-led government, including during the strike at public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, the magazine Demokracija says in Thursday’s editorial, headlined Incest of Journalism and Politics Laid Bare.

The news of the cancellation of this year's Ohrid Swimming Marathon came out of the blue on Wednesday, after President Stevo Pendarovski, the traditional patron of the event, met the head of the National Swimming Federation, Goran Stojanovski.

Media unions in Kosovo have criticised ruling Vetevendosje party MP Fitore Pacolli after, on Thursday, she urged the government to take measures to identify investments in the media, which, according to her, are being used for business and public blackmail.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly launched on Thursday a parliamentary inquiry into suspicions of illegal financing of “party political propaganda in the media with funds of state-owned companies, state institutions or foreign institutions or entities” targeting media owned by or linked with the SDS.

Ljubljana – The coalition Freedom Movement and the Left are reserved about both appeals public figures have addressed to the government regarding Slovenia’s stance on the war in Ukraine, while the two opposition parties have expressed unequivocal support for today’s cross-partisan open letter calling for stronger support for Ukraine.