Romania: CFWIJ Calls For Investigation On The Unjustified Detention Of Italian Journalist
Location: Romania, Bucharest
Date: December 18, 2021
Lucia Goracci, an Italian journalist of the public broadcaster RAI and her crew were detained in Bucharest for several hours after initially being kept locked up and attacked in the office of an anti-vax Romanian Senator Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca. The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls for a fair investigation into the incident and those responsible, including police officers present at the office.
Journalist Lucia Goracci Lucia Goracci was interviewing Senator Diana Iovanovici Sosoaca on December 10 about her anti- vaccination views when she and her team were locked up and allegedly attacked by the husband of Senator.
The journalists were on assignment in Romania doing a report about low vaccination rates and the anti-vaccination movement.
Romanian police intervened in the office but the TV crew managed to leave Sosoaca’s office only after the intervention of the Italian Embassy in Bucharest.
Lucia was searched and questioned by the Romanian policemen and they were allowed to leave the police station only after eight hours.
A video published shows the Senator angrily against Lucia and her team and also very tense moments after Police are there. Lucia is heard telling police officers “you are not protecting us, we are journalists”.
Lucia Goracci filed a complaint with the 4th police station in Bucharest against Senator Diana Şoşoaca, claiming that she was sequestered in Sosoaca’s office and that the senator’s husband, Dumitru-Silvestru Şoşoacă, bit her hand. He was placed under judicial control for 60 days after being heard at the Prosecutor’s Office- also accused of attacking a police officer amid the incident with the Italian journalists.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the unjustified detention of Lucia and her team. We are deeply concerned with the fact that a politician could just decide to attack media members that way. It is very concerning that after diplomatic intervention the RAI team was also held for another eight hours at the Police station.
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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