International investigation as a protection system for journalists

In fact, if you follow the logic of power-press relations, in most cases we see a situation where the government does not show interest in solving crimes and in fact does not bring the investigation to its logical end.

For example, in Azerbaijan, where the detection rate of all types of crimes exceeds 90%, in the case of journalists, this figure has traditionally been within a few percent, which indicates political involvement or encouragement of violence against journalists.

Over the past four months, five journalists have been killed in the OSCE region: Kim Walla in Denmark, Orub and Hull Barakat in Turkey, Daphne Caruana Galicia in Malta, and Jan Kuceak in Slovakia. Only the investigation into the murder of the latter gave encouraging results after the strongest in the past 30 years, mass protests across Slovakia. A study of materials published in the press on this case, even with such public pressure, shows that high-ranking officials in this country did not show much zeal for establishing the truth of Kutsyak"s murder, including his investigation of the links between Slovak politicians and the Italian mafia.

Most often, those journalists who are investigating the activities of the "government-crime" bundle are killed. In Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Malta and many other European countries, this bundle is strong and continues to grow, Desir said in the fall of 2018, noting that the OSCE member states should intensify efforts to protect freedom of speech and the safety of journalists.

Practice shows, the authorities use various charges, ranging from supporting terrorism, ending with hooliganism, to arrest and prosecute journalists.

According to various data of international human rights organizations, today about 170 journalists are under arrest in the OSCE region, mainly in countries with transitional democracy.

Various initiatives to protect journalists are being considered. For example, the EU is drafting a law on special commissions to oversee the investigations into the murders of journalists. The OSCE representative on media freedom proposes the creation of joint committees for the protection of journalists at the national level, which would include officials, law enforcement officers and journalistic organizations. Information about threats of violence and facts of violence against journalists could be gathered here. Joint efforts of the parties represented in such committees would allow minimizing such threats, according to Desir.

Of course, such initiatives could reduce the growth of crimes against journalists, but in Azerbaijan, the authorities rejected the creation of such structures.

An important means, both preventive and punitive, could be a mandatory international investigation of all crimes against journalists and their murders. Experience shows that the investigation into the killings of journalists comes to a standstill, if it is considered at the national level, by local law enforcement agencies that are under the control of the executive. The case of the murder of the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Monitor" Elmar Huseynov is an example of this. He was killed in March 2005. At the first stage, the FBI and Turkish secret services joined the investigation. The head of the Turkish investigation team later said that the names of the perpetrators and customers of the murder had been submitted to the Azerbaijani government. However, foreign investigators were removed from their country, and the local investigation was stalled. Subsequent investigative journalism revealed that the case was set on the wrong track.

The development and adoption of such an international and local legislative decision as the mandatory formation of an international investigation group on the killing journalists or attempted murder should be taken at the UN level and supported by regional organizations such as the OSCE, CE, EU. Of course, Interpol and other interested structures could become such a coordinating structure for such investigations.

It would be naive to believe that national governments and services would be delighted with the mandatory international investigation of crimes against the media, but such a decision would be a warning signal for those who would like to use the services of killers to eliminate journalists.