Press Freedom Days 2023//Flashmob in Front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova: “United for Press Freedom. The Truth Cannot Be Suppressed!”

On Wednesday, May 3, 2023, journalists, representatives of civil society and the School of Journalism of Moldova took part in a flashmob with the slogan #StopWar! organized by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC). The event was held in front of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Moldova on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day and aimed to highlight the consequences of the war in Ukraine faced by the free and independent press.

The slogan “United for Press Freedom. The Truth Cannot Be Suppressed!”emphasized the importance of working in a safe environment, without any risks of being persecuted for journalists. The flashmob participants held placards with the inscription #StopWar!, as well as caricatures illustrating such issues as killing journalists who covered  Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, suppression of the press in Russia, and amplification of propaganda around the globe.

“One year after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine broke out we are concerned about an increasing number of media professionals who lose their lives while covering the war; some of them even were executed. We also note that, in the Russian Federation, the phenomenon of jailing the journalists whose view of the war differs from that of the Kremlin keeps gathering steam, especially in the context of a massive wave of propaganda and disinformation affecting people’s minds in Russia and abroad. In this manner, we express our solidarity with the journalists who cover the war in Ukraine professionally, and also with Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal journalist arrested in Moscow, and with the Russian journalists sentenced to jail simply for calling things by their proper names,” Nadine Gogu, IJC Executive Director, declared.

The Press Freedom Days in the Republic of Moldova will continue until May 31, 2023. During this period of time, the IJC launched the Memorandum on Press Freedom from May 3, 2022, to May 3, 2023, signed by a number of media organizations.

The agenda of all the events organized by the IJC and the other media organizations on the occasion of the Press Freedom Days can be consulted here.