Watchdog

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is calling on media in Kosovo to refrain from “intensifying tensions” during the health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement on April 4, the Brussels-based organization said the quarantine of the Serb-majority town of North Mitrovica has resulted in “inappropriate and unethical” media coverage by Kosovar state broadcaster RTK and the Sinjali news portal.

“The EFJ strongly denounces these discrepancies, which show strong political interference in some media in Kosovo,” the statement said.

It said that “unsupported statements and provocative questions” asked by an RTK journalist while reporting live from North Mitrovica on April 4 “raised a wave of reactions in Kosovo” and “risk contributing in raising tensions between Serb and Albanian communities.”

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RTK acting editor in chief Ridvan Berisha, told RFE/RL that the journalist may have been responsible for some "professional mistake" that he attributed to "pressure" received during the reporting. But Berisha insisted that "there was never calls for riots or interethnic tensions.”

The previous day, on April 3, Sinjali published the names, addresses, and dates of birth of 210 people, mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma, who had been placed in quarantine in North Mitrovica and other cities, according to the EFJ.

The personal information of these citizens was blurred following protests from the public and the Association of Serbian Journalists in Kosovo, the group said.

Kosovo’s ombudsman Hilmi Jashari described the publication of the personal data as a violation of the constitution’s Article 36 on the right to privacy.

“It seems clear that some politicians, starting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, are using the coronavirus crisis to inflame political and social tensions in their own interest,” said EFJ General-Secretary Ricardo Gutierrez, who called on journalists “not to play their game and to act in the public interest.”

The mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Kosovo has also urged the media in the country to “strictly observe the privacy of patients and under no circumstances to reveal the identities of those affected” by the coronavirus.

“The situation with COVID-19 requires solidarity and cooperation throughout society, as well as between the authorities in the region,” it said in a statement on April 4.

Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo have imposed the same emergency measures as in neighboring Serbia to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Kosovar authorities have reported 145 cases so far, including three deaths.

But the statistics do not include the cases reported by Serb-majority northern Kosovo – 26, including one death – who report to health authorities in Serbia.

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, declared independence in 2008 in a move rejected by Belgrade.

European Union-mediated talks between Kosovo and Serbia to settle their differences have stalled.

Russia has launched what appears to be its first criminal probe into suspected public dissemination of false information about the new coronavirus just two days after President Vladimir Putin signed a new law on knowingly misinforming the public into the nation's criminal code.

St. Petersburg activist Anna Shushpanova said on her personal social-media page on April 4 that local investigators searched her apartment a day earlier and took her computers and telephone after she posted local residents' concerns about possibly inadequate quarantine measures at a clinic and hospital in the town of Sestroretsk in a group on VKontakte, a popular Russian equivalent of Facebook.

She said she is currently a witness in the investigation.

Russia on April 4 announced 582 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths during the previous 24 hours, bringing its total number of declared cases to more than 4,700 and the death toll to 43.

But critics think the real number of cases is higher and have accused Russian authorities of underreporting the extent of the outbreak.

Shushpanova did not say what exactly she posted on the topic on the evening of April 2.

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Russian state news agency TASS reported that she wrote that an individual with signs of coronavirus entered the Sestroretsk clinic, made contact with doctors and visitors, and was sent home on public transport. The clinic’s department head was forced to step down following the incident, TASS cited her post as saying.

Shushpanova said another individual had posted about the alleged incident before her and that local residents replied to it. That individual then wrote under Shushpanova's post that he called the coronavirus hotline to report the incident and also wrote about it on the personal social-media page of St. Petersburg's governor.

Shushpanova said she thinks she is being targeted for her activist work in Sestroretsk on "hot topics" including ecological issues and city beautification and doesn't understand why her devices were seized if she is just a witness.

She said Open Russia, a civil rights advocacy group, has already reached out to defend her.

"I have the impression that the current situation is an attempt to silence me, to stop me from writing about the problems in the area and stop me from attracting media and public attention [to the problems]," she said, adding that she will be serving as an observer from the opposition party Yabloko during the upcoming vote on constitutional changes.

Shushpanova said she was surprised by the speed of the probe, pointing out that about 10 investigators were at her door 18 hours after her post.

She said investigators also searched her sister's apartment and took both of them to the station. The investigators' search warrant was not signed by a court, she said.

"This is really like a bad April Fool's joke," she said.

Russia has been increasing pressure on civil society in recent years amid signs of growing public dissatisfaction with living standards.

Putin on April 1 signed into law an amendment to the Russian Criminal Code allowing for the punishment of people who knowingly spread false information about the coronavirus.

Punishments include fines of up to 700,000 rubles ($8,800), correctional work up to 360 hours, and up to 3 years in prison.

Shushpanova said the authorities first must prove the information she posted is false and then prove that she knew it was false.

With reporting by Vedomosti and TASS