The powerful Cyprus journalists union is in conflict with the Justice Ministry after police charged Friday four local television reporters on 15 accounts of violence and obstruction of police duties.
The charges followed clashes during a truck drivers strike on Monday when the cameraman of the state-owned Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation was held overnight for allegedly attacking a member of the elite MMAD unit.
Truckers who oppose the government’s plans to eventually liberalise the sector tried to prevent a few drivers under heavy police escort from breaking through their barrier at the Vassiliko and Cyprus Cement/Moni cement and clinker manufacturing plants.
The clashes turned violent when members of the anti-terror police unit turned on television crews to prevent the report of the events.
A CyBC cameraman was manhandled and later arrested and held overnight, allegedly for obstructing the police in their work. He was shown on all TV newsreels being handcuffed and dragged away, which is in clear violation of police procedures, that specify use of handcuffs only in a threat to national security or in risk of fleeing.
The police rejected accusations of abuse saying it would investigate the events.
The opposition DISY blasted the government’s “unacceptable” tactics and the extreme violence used by the police against the media.
Justice Minister Doros Theodorou claimed the media coverage was biased and that he did not see “a single slap”, but would launch an inquiry anyway. The Government spokesman played down the events saying he doubted the allegations of abuse as they were reported and had different information about the clashes.
A heated debate on CyBC television on Tuesday night heard Minister Theodorou accuse the presenter, Emilia Kenevezou, of bias and unfair reporting.
After the anchor defended her colleagues’ actions and freedom of speech, the CyBC Director General and the government-appointed Board issued an announcement that fell short of gagging the public broadcaster’s journalists. This subsequently resulted in a stern statement by the Journalists Union, appealing to all sides to prevent the threats against freedom of speech.
Attorney General Petros Clerides said Friday that he was not informed by police of their intentions to charge the four reporters.
“I will ask the police, which is within my right, not to proceed with the charges, until I have studied the case files and reviewed the conclusions of the two-man investigating committee (appointed by the Council of Ministers) which should rule within 15 days,” Clerides said.
The four reporters from CyBC, Antenna TV, Sigma TV and Mega TV, were ordered to appear in a Limassol police station at 11am on Friday, where they were charged and later released.
The reporters claimed the charges were unfounded and fabricated by a certain MMAD officer who also allegedly tampered with evidence in order to justify the charges.
The independent Press Complaints Commission has also launched an inquiry into the whole matter, during and after the incident at the cement factory, including public comments made in the media and on TV.
