Global Freedom of Expression, Columbia University: Newsletter, 24 July 2026

Columbia Global Freedom of Expression seeks to contribute to the development of an integrated and progressive jurisprudence and understanding on freedom of expression and information around the world.  It maintains an extensive database of international case law. This is its newsletter dealing with recent developments  in the field.

“Unless the killers of Slavko Ćuruvija are convicted, it is possible to get away with the murder of a journalist in Serbia,” Pavol Szalai of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) told CGFoE recently. Explaining how the impunity for the 1999 assassination—see CGFoE’s case analysis—continues to affect reporters, Szalai warned that “surveillance and smearing have been happening to Serbian journalists for several years now.”

Szalai heads RSF’s first Central and Eastern Europe bureau, which opened in Prague in October 2025. Although the organization has worked across the region since its founding 40 years ago, the need for a permanent presence has become increasingly urgent. “We believe the future of media freedom in Europe is determined here,” Szalai said of the countries stretching from the Baltics to the Balkans.

In a conversation with CGFoE Editor Anastasiia Vorozhtsova, Szalai discussed the challenges confronting media freedom across Central and Eastern Europe today—from Russian disinformation and SLAPPs to crimes against journalists and state efforts to undermine the independence of public media. Below is an abridged excerpt. You can read the full conversation on our website.

Credit: RSF/Manon Levet

Anastasiia Vorozhtsova: Russian disinformation is a major threat in Central and Eastern Europe. To counter it, RSF supports Russian journalists and media in exile. Some of RSF’s initiatives help them bypass censorship. Which of those projects are currently running? How effective are they?

Pavol Szalai: Everything is still running and effective. Sorry for the lack of modesty. The project I am personally most proud of is the Svoboda Satellite Package, run by Eutelsat, for Russian and also Belarusian media, for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reaching millions of households in Russia, Belarus, and the occupied territories in Ukraine. The project reverses the logic of Russia, which exports its propaganda to Europe: now from Europe, we export information to Russia. Of course, the Russian authorities have tried to jam the broadcasting, but they haven’t succeeded.

Another project is Collateral Freedom. We create mirror websites for independent media—they are practically impossible for the Russian authorities to block. We have done that for the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and many other European and exiled media. It’s a kind of hacking of the Russian censorship system: RSF helps give access to Russians—those who want to have it—to trustworthy information.

We have also filed 11 complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC), nine before the Ukrainian courts, and two in France, accusing the Russian army of killing journalists on duty and destroying media infrastructure in Ukraine. These cases are still being examined. In our last complaint with the ICC, filed together with the Lithuanian authorities, we, for the first time, qualify Russia’s crimes against journalists as crimes against humanity.

Read the full interview here.

Croatia
Arambašić v. Croatia
Decision Date: November 20, 2025
The Constitutional Court of Croatia held that statements criticizing a public official’s spending on local infrastructure should not lead to criminal convictions for defamation. The case concerned a Facebook post in which D. Arambašić criticized the Mayor of Čepin, D. Tonkovac, accusing him of carrying out roadwork under suspicious circumstances on a road leading to the mayor’s private hazelnut plantation—allegedly using municipal machinery and funds while many residents lacked basic road infrastructure. Lower courts convicted Arambašić of criminal defamation and fined him. The Constitutional Court quashed both judgments, finding a violation of his right to freedom of expression (Article 38 of the Croatian Constitution and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights). It stressed that public officials must show greater tolerance for criticism on matters of genuine public interest, such as local infrastructure and public spending.

Mamić v. Croatia
Decision Date: March 22, 2017
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia affirmed a Supreme Court ruling holding that public statements suggesting that homosexual individuals are not suited to play football constituted discrimination. The case concerned statements made by Zdravko Mamić, executive vice-president of a Croatian football club, in a newspaper interview. In it, he argued that he would not let homosexual players play on his football team and expressed the opinion that homosexual individuals are more suitable to be ballet dancers or journalists. Lower-instance courts initially argued that these statements did not constitute discrimination. The Supreme Court reversed those decisions and found that Mamić’s statements amounted to direct discrimination based on sexual orientation. It emphasized the discriminatory nature of such statements. It further added that Mamić’s speech could discourage participation of homosexual individuals in the sport of football. The Constitutional Court agreed and emphasized the limitations placed upon freedom of expression under the Croatian Constitution and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Although freedom of expression protects even offensive or controversial speech, it needs to be balanced against respect for other human rights and human dignity, the Court opined.

Serbia
The Case of Radomir Markovic and Others (Slavko Curuvija)
Decision Date: October 13, 2025
The Supreme Court of Serbia held that the Belgrade Court of Appeals committed violations of criminal procedure when it acquitted four former State Security officials charged with the 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija. Reviewing a request for the protection of legality filed by the Supreme Public Prosecutor, the Court found that the appellate court had mischaracterized witness testimony and provided contradictory reasoning in its assessment of key forensic evidence, rendering meaningful judicial review impossible. Nevertheless, because Serbian law limits the Supreme Court’s authority in proceedings brought to the detriment of acquitted defendants, the Court could issue only a declaratory judgment. As a result, the appellate acquittals remained final. Following the acquittals, three of the acquitted defendants successfully brought a civil defamation action against the Ćuruvija Foundation after it referred to them as Ćuruvija’s murderers, with the trial court holding that the Foundation had failed to respect the plaintiffs’ presumption of innocence notwithstanding the public interest in the case.

Call for Immediate Release of Egyptian Cartoonist Ashraf Omar, Arbitrarily Detained for Two Years. As this week marks two years since political cartoonist Ashraf Omar was abducted by Egyptian security forces, CGFoE joins 15 other freedom of expression groups in calling for his immediate release. Charged with “financing terrorism” and “participation in a terrorist group,” Omar still awaits a trial that has been repeatedly postponed. The authorities are also targeting his wife, Nada Mougheeth, a consistent advocate for Omar’s release, with accusations of “membership in a terrorist group” and “spreading false news.” Read the full statement, signed by CGFoE, here.

● Croatia: “Dismantler of the Rule of Law”—What Does It Mean? In its 2026 report, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe classified Croatia—along with Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia—as a “dismantler” of the rule of law. The Centre for Peace Studies explains the Croatian case, often overlooked internationally, and what constitutes the country’s “gradual normalisation of democratic erosion.” One of the most worrying trends is growing hostility towards journalists, activists, and broader civil society.

● Serbia: Dangerous Spiral of Violence Against Journalists. Following an international mission to Belgrade, the Media Freedom Rapid Response coalition and the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform present a report on Serbia’s enduring media freedom crisis. In 2025, the coalition documented 209 press freedom violations, and in the first six months of 2026, that number stood at 100. The report sounds an alarm over record levels of physical violence against journalists, online smear campaigns, spyware, persistent impunity, the rise of SLAPPs, and erosion of media pluralism.

● Malta: Daphne Caruana Galizia’s Murder—Landmark Trial Puts Press Freedom Back in Spotlight. In Valletta, Malta, businessman Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind behind the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, has been on trial since July 1. The verdict is expected this August. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports on the long-delayed justice and how the Maltese authorities have failed to deliver meaningful press freedom reforms.

India’s youth-led “Cockroach” movement has protested continuously since June 6 and faced its largest mobilization and a heavy state crackdown on July 20.

Background & Demands: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) is a satirical movement founded in response to a comment by the chief justice who compared unemployed youth to “cockroaches.” The movement demands accountability for the alleged exam paper leak affecting over two million students, the resignation of the education minister, and compensation for families of students who died by suicide after the exam disruption. The protesters have been staging a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi since June 20. On July 18, veteran activist Sonam Wangchuk, on hunger strike in solidarity with the CJP, was forcibly hospitalized, which sparked more outrage—CJP leader Abhijeet Dipke then demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi resign.

Significance: The July 20 march mobilized around 50,000 protesters who attempted to reach Parliament. The movement has spread nationwide and presents one of the biggest challenges to Modi’s government today.

State Response: On July 20, the authorities sealed routes to Parliament, closed metro stations, erected barricades, and suspended mobile internet in Delhi. As marchers advanced, the police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons and canes. Between 60 and 150 protesters were injured. The Delhi police detained 70, and more detentions took place in Mumbai and Bengaluru. On July 21, police detained opposition leader Rahul Gandhi during a solidarity sit-in outside Modi’s residence. Reports of violence also emerged on July 22, when over 10,000 protesters gathered in central Delhi. On the morning of July 24, 17 metro stations were shut down.

Some Results: In his first public remark on the movement on July 23, Prime Minister Modi promised “fast-track courts” for officials accused of exam leaks, which a CJP spokesman dismissed as a “band-aid.” On July 24, after activist Wangchuk ended his hunger strike, two senior government ministers held talks with CJP leaders, promising a response to their central demand—that the education minister resign—until July 25.

FoE Violations: “The Delhi Police’s actions raise serious questions about whether their response met the requirements of legality, necessity, and proportionality under international human rights standards,” said Amnesty International. SFLC.in condemned the internet shutdown imposed on parts of Central Delhi, calling on the authorities to uphold the Supreme Court’s Bhasin v. Union of India ruling.

● ‘So-Called International Law,’ by Aryeh Neier. What is behind the just-announced US campaign to destroy the International Criminal Court? Writing for The New York Review of Books, President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations Aryeh Neier unpacks the questions that the announcement raises.

● Digital Rights Exchange Program: A Unique In-Person Global Majority–Global North Exchange. Forus and the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law will organize a funded, in-person exchange between organizations working on digital rights in the Global Majority and the Global North. Learn more here. Apply by August 6.

This newsletter is reproduced with the permission of Global Freedom of Expression.  For an archive of previous newsletters, see here.