Journalists have criticised Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, for grilling journalist Elton Qyno for several hours on Wednesday about his sources for a story, searching his home and workplace at Ora Television, and seizing his computer.
The journalists community in the country argues that journalists are not obliged to reveal their sources of infomation.
BIRN called Qyno for his reaction but he was not reachable by time of publication. But in an interview that he gave to local media outlet Top Channel, he said he had been “illegally” pressed to reveal his sources of information. SPAK’s “court (warrant) is illegal and against international conventions”, he said.
BIRN asked SPAK about the reasons for the questioning, but was told that the prosecution would make an official statement later.
The prosecutor who questioned Qyno told BIRN on Wednesday that he had been “invited” to give information. “The investigations will continue in other forms to find out who revealed an investigative secret,” he said.
Esiona Konomi, a journalist with ABC News, said SPAK “should communicate clearly and in time with the public. I understand that the publication of prosecution acts might harm investigative secrets or have consequences for social peace. But it is SPAK’s responsibility to protect an investigative secret, not the journalist’s,” she wrote on Thursday.
Journalist Juxhin Mustafaraj said the case could set a “dangerous precedent”.
“Treating a journalist in this way by the new justice institutions, raiding his house and terrorizing his family and children, is a shameful and shocking scene for anyone who practises this profession,” he wrote.
Source : BalkanInsight
