OREANDA-NEWS. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic declared that she is deeply concerned about the infringement of media freedom during the coronavirus epidemic.

She made a special statement on this subject which says that stopping misinformation about the epidemic should not turn into pressure on the media, and called on governments of all Council of Europe member countries to urgently lift new restrictions on journalists. At the same time, Mijatovich agrees that disinformation on such an important topic cannot be ignored by state authorities.

First of all, the Commissioner’s criticism is directed towards Russia and Hungary, where new laws to punish misinformers with heavy fines and imprisonment have been passed recently.