Stop attacking journalists for asking for information on
COVID-19
We, undersigned members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ),
condemn the public attacks and smear campaign by the Slovene government and media
supporting the ruling SDS party against our fellow member Blaž Zgaga. We request such
attacks against journalists stop immediately.
After Zgaga filed a FOIA request to obtain information about government handling of
COVID-19, the official Twitter account of the Crisis Headquarters of Republic of Slovenia
retweeted an anonymous tweet on 15 March 2020 which claimed: "Psychiatrists are
searching for 4 patients who escaped quarantine. They have a virus covid-marks/lenin".
Zgaga and three other Slovenes were mentioned, including philosopher Slavoj Žižek. This
tweet, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, endorsed by an official communication
channel of the Slovene government has put all four people in real immediate danger.
The following day Nova24 TV and weekly Demokracija, both owned and managed by the
ruling SDS party, published articles designating Zgaga as a “deep state” journalist, who is
undermining the efforts of the new government related to the COVID19 epidemic, because
of his Freedom of Information request to the government.
As a result of the actions mentioned above, Zgaga received numerous anonymous threats
and hate messages.
Zgaga has been a member of ICIJ since 2011. He is a professional and experienced journalist,
who has won numerous awards for his public service journalism. He has reported on abuses
of power with ICIJ projects.
We demand the Government of Slovenia and the SDS party stop attacking our colleague and
other journalists in Slovenia who try to obtain official information and keep a critical focus
on those in power.
We ask the Council of Europe, the European Commission, and the European Parliament to
take this situation seriously and request explanations by the Government of Slovenia and
communicate publicly their findings.
Ştefan Cândea, Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism, Romania.
Rakesh Kalshian, Independent Journalist, New delhi
Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, Ghana Business News
Sandrine Sawadogo, Burkina Faso, L'Economiste du Faso
Ola Westerberg, TT News Agency, Sweden

 Johannes Kr. Kristjansson, Reykjavik Media, Iceland
Mohammed Komani, ARIJ, Yemen
Pedro Enrique Armendares, Mexico
Alia Ibrahim, Daraj, Beirut
Marcelo Soares, Lagom Data, Brazil
Alvin Ntibinyane, INK Centre, Botswana
Sandra Bartlett, Independent, Canada
Nelfi Fernandez Reyes, EL DEBER, Bolivia
Michael Bilton, investigative writer, United Kingdom.
Luc Caregari, Woxx, Luxembourg.
Leo Sisti, L’Espresso, Italy.
Joop Bouma, Trouw, the Netherlands
Jeroen Trommelen, Investico, The Netherlands
Shyamlal Yadav, The Indian Express, India
Oliver Zihlmann, Tamedia, Switzerland
Søren Kristensen, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Denmark
John Hansen, Politiken, Denmark
Serena Tinari, Re-Check.ch, Switzerland
Stefan Melichar, profil, Austria
Linton Besser, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Marcos García Rey, El Confidencial, Spain
Yossi Melman, Haaretz, Israel
Frederik Obermaier, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany
Bastian Obermayer, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany

 Paul Radu, The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
Stelios Orphanides, OCCRP
Stanimir Vaglenov, Bulgaria
Nina Selbo Torset, Aftenposten
Pelin Ünker, İstanbul, Turkey
Fernando Rodrigues, Poder360, Brazil
Atanas Chobanov, Bivol, Bulgaria
Micael Pereira, Expresso, Portugal
Sarunas Cerniauskas, OCCRP/Siena.lt, Lithuania
Kristof Clerix, Knack, Belgium
Marcel Metze, The Investigative Desk, Netherlands
Juliette Garside, The Guardian, United Kingdom
Edik Baghdasaryan, Hetq, Armenia
José Roberto de Toledo, revista piauí, Brazil
Harry Karanikas, Mega Channel, To Vima newspaper, Greece
Susanne Reber, Scripps DC, USA
Musikilu Mojeed, Premium Times, Nigeria
Edouard Perrin, Premières Lignes, France
Rob Rose, Financial Mail, South Africa
Djordje Padejski, Stanford University, USA
Brigitte Alfter, Arena for Journalism in Europe, Denmark
Daniel Santoro, Clarin / FOPEA, Argentina
Giannina Segnini, Columbia University, US

 Charles Lewis, Investigative Reporting Workshop, US
Mariel Fitz Patrick, Infobae and Foro de Periodismo Argentino (FOPEA), Argentina
Monica Almeida, Diario El Universo, Ecuador
Tamas Bodoky, atlatszo.hu, Hungary
Frederic Zalac, Radio-Canada, Canada
Monica Gonzalez, Ciper (Chile)
Carlos Eduardo Huertas, CONNECTAS, Latin America
Boyoung Lim, South Korea
Neil Chenoweth, Australian Financial Review, Australia
Karlijn Kuijpers, Platform Investico, The Netherlands
Margo Smit, public broadcaster NPO, The Netherlands
Colm Keena, The Irish Times, Ireland
Mary Triny Zea, diario La Prensa, Panama
Dean Starkman, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Washington.
Nicky Hager, New Zealand
Umar Cheema, Pakistan
Sven Bergman, SVT, Sweden