CIVIC SPACE RESTRICTIONS

In Europe and Central Asia, the most common violations of civic freedoms documented in 2022 were harassment, intimidation, detention of protesters, attacks on journalists and the passing of restrictive laws. Over the past five years, harassment has been one of the most common tactics used in the region to crack down on civil society.

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Harassment

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Top 5 viol ations to civic freed oms for Europe and Central Asia region attack

intimidation 4.

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protestor(s) detained

Harassment And Intimidation

In 2022, harassment was the most common civic space violation, documented in at least 36 countries in the region, while intimidation was documented in at least 25 countries. The groups most commonly targeted in the region were women, LGBTQI+ groups and labour rights groups.

In many countries harassment and intimidation takes place online and extends to offline spaces, and at times can lead to physical attacks on activists and journalists. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, LGBTQI+ activists faced online harassment before and after holding a Pride march, including from high-level politicians. In North Macedonia, Bekim Asani, president of the LGBTQI+ United CSO, was subject to threats and insults, leading up to a physical attack that took place in Strumica at a public event to promote the organisation. Activist Dragan Dmitrović reported that police officers threatened him with death shortly before he was forced to sign a false confession incriminating three other activists for protest in Serbia after violence.

Women are disproportionately targeted through gendered intimidation and harassment. Several cases have been documented against women journalists in the region, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Italy, Montenegro, Romania and Turkey. In Romania, journalist Emilia Sercan, who has faced threats since 2016, filed a police report after being threatened online and discovering that old private photographs had been stolen from her hard drive and put on porn sites. The screenshots, which she filed with the police report, were then leaked and widely shared on the internet.

Smear campaigns are another way in which harassment takes place. In Hungary in October 2022, the government-financed think tank Centre for Fundamental Rights (Alapjogokért Központ) accused Amnesty International of promoting sex-change surgeries in schools because the group promotes a project, ‘Inclusive Spaces’, which aims to provide information to teachers and students about LGBTQI+ people and their rights.

In some cases the criminal justice system is used as a tool to harass activists, including in Poland, where pro-abortion activist Justyna Wydrzyńska, from the Aborcyjny Dream Team group faces up to three years in prison for aiding and abetting a pregnancy termination. In 2020 Wydrzyńska sent abortion pills she had at home to a woman who had contacted her who was in an abusive relationship with an unwanted pregnancy. In Turkey, We Will Stop Femicide Platform, a leading women’s CSO, is facing prosecution for ‘acting against the law and against morality’.

Legal intimidation

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harassment through Strategic Litigation Against Public

Participation (SLAPPs) lawsuits filed by both state and private actors were frequently documented in the region, including in Croatia, Greece and Lithuania. These cases are often lengthy and expensive and serve to drain the resources of CSOs and media outlets in an attempt to silence critical voices. In Serbia, the Crime and Corruption Research Network (KRIK), an investigative portal, was found guilty in a SLAPP case initiated by Bratislav Gašić, former head of the Security Intelligence Agency and now Minister of Internal Affairs. The lawsuit came after KRIK reported on a public trial by quoting a wiretapped conversation used as evidence against a criminal group, which exposed the group’s ties with Gašić.

Palestinian activists in Austria and Germany have also faced legal harassment. In one case, widely condemned by several UN Special Rapporteurs, a member of Boycott Divestment Sanctions Austria was found guilty of defamation and fined €3,500 (approx. US$3,700) plus legal fees after the municipality of Vienna filed a case over a Facebook post that it argued ‘incites hatred against Israeli people’. The post contained a picture of a poster stating ‘Visit Apartheid’ that was stuck on an official city of Vienna billboard.

Intimidation and harassment are frequently used in Central Asia to repress government critics. In addition to suppressing dissent at home, the authorities in Turkmenistan continued to target activists based abroad, particularly in Turkey, putting pressure on them both directly and indirectly through their relatives in Turkmenistan. Increasing intimidation and harassment of journalists, bloggers, lawyers, civil society activists and other critical voices was also documented in Kyrgyzstan. In one high-profile case, more than 20 activists were arrested and charged with organising riots after publicly opposing a controversial governmentnegotiated border agreement with Uzbekistan. The authorities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan targeted journalists and activists in crackdowns launched in response to mass protests that were suppressed. In Kazakhstan, at least 30 activists, including Zhanbolat Mamai, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, were charged with rioting and other offences related to predominantly peaceful mass protests for social and political change in January 2022, despite the lack of any credible evidence to support charges.