OSCE media watchdog calls on Romania to drop leak cases against journalists

VIENNA, 8 March 2006 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklós Haraszti, has written to Romanian Foreign Minister Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu, urging Bucharest authorities to do everything in their power to drop criminal charges against two journalists who risk imprisonment for the possession of classified material.

On 7 February anonymous sources provided two national dailies, Ziua and Romania Libera, with military documents about Romanian and US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The newspapers exercised journalistic responsibility by deciding not to publish the information and later handed the documents to Romanian authorities.

Nevertheless, two journalists were charged with possession of classified information. One of them was held in custody for two days and the premises of both journalists have been searched.

"It is an accepted international standard that the obligation to keep governmental secrets applies solely to the employees in charge of handling the information," the OSCE Media Representative said.

"In democracies, civilians, including journalists, cannot be treated as criminals merely for obtaining state secrets. Journalists are even entitled by law to keep their confidential sources to themselves."

In his letter, Haraszti noted that the cases were based on an antiquated criminal provision, and urged Romanian authorities to annul old laws that do not comply with modern democratic standards.

"The Criminal Code should be amended in the spirit of the Romanian Constitution and European standards in order to exempt non-officials from the old-style duty to protect state secrets and to empower journalists to serve the public's right to know," Haraszti said.