On Tuesday 4 July, MEP Miguel Urbán Crespo (The Left, Spanish), together with The Left and The Greens, alerted the European Parliament to the case of Pablo González.
The Spanish-Russian journalist has been held in Warsaw for 16 months awaiting trial. The Polish courts are accusing him of falsifying identity documents and suspecting him of spying for the Kremlin.
However, his family condemns the conditions in which he is being held and the absence of a formal indictment. Supported by organisations such as Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, they are calling for him to be given a swift and fair trial.
The members of Mr Gonzalez’s support committee, who were invited to the European Parliament, also deplored the lack of support from the Spanish government. They drew parallels with the cases of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal journalist arrested in Moscow, and Andrzej Poczobut, a Gazeta Wyborcza journalist detained in Belarus, both accused of undermining national security.
Spain, which has just taken over the Presidency of the EU Council, will have to negotiate with the European Parliament on issues such as the Media Freedom Act (EMFA)... where provisions on safeguarding national security have caused an outcry (see EUROPE 13206/1).
With regard to the media, Madrid will also be responsible for leading negotiations on the ‘anti-SLAPPs’ directive (see EUROPE 13198/2) and has announced its intention to “boost coordinated action in [...] the fight against disinformation”.
The Spanish Presidency programme: https://aeur.eu/f/7v4 (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)