by Leonardo
On December 15, 2014 the Italian reporter Giulietto Chiesa, who had been invited to take part in a conference in Tallinn on Russian-European relations, was detained by the Estonian authorities for a few hours after being declared “persona non grata“. Facts appear to point to a deliberate move on the part of the Estonian authorities meant to prevent the journalist from attending the conference, thus censoring the speech he was supposed to deliver.
Before diving into the facts, a little background info intended as a frame of reference.
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| Giulietto Chiesa, journalist and MEP |
Giulietto Chiesa is an Italian journalist and former member of the European Parliament. He has been correspondent from Moscow for two different italian newspapers (La Stampa and L’Unità) for 20 years, since 1980.
In Italy he is presently marginalized for his very critical opinions on a few issues which the mainstream media still consider as taboo. Chiesa is a member of the 9/11 Consensus Panel, a board whose goal is “to provide the world with a clear statement, based on expert independent opinion, of some of the best evidence opposing the official narrative about 9/11”. He is also known for being very vocal in opposing western imperialism and the hysterical russophobia that is being spread by the mainstream media. He wrote many articles condemning NATO aggression against Libya, the destabilization of Syria, the eastward expansion of NATO and the western backed coup in Kiev.
According to the Estonian Public Broadcasting, Chiesa was invited in Tallinn on December 15, 2014 by the Impressum NGO to attend a conference titled “Should Europe fear Russia?”. Apparently, Estonian authorities consider the Impressum NGO as a russian propaganda proxy. Chiesa had already spoken at Impressum events twice before.
According to Chiesa, he arrived in Tallinn at 12.45 and gave an interview to an Estonian TV channel, had lunch and then went back to his hotel room in order to complete the preparation for the speech he was supposed to give at 19.00.
One and a half hours before the appointed time, a group of four Estonian policemen knocked on his room’s door and took him into custody, intimating him to follow them to the local police station. Chiesa was later informed that he was being detained because he was the target of an entry ban signed on 13 December 2014 and valid for one month. He stated that he repeatedly asked the police to show him the related documents but his requests were denied. He was jailed for four hours, until the arrival of the Italian Ambassador, who managed to have him released a few hours later, after applying diplomatic pressure.
While the incident made the first page of a few Italian online newspapers it didn’t get much attention on the Italian television networks, that at most mentioned it casually.
The incident caused some diplomatic friction between Italy and Estonia and the Estonian Ambassador in Rome was summoned by the Italian Foreign Minister looking for answers.
It also prompted inquiries in both the Italian and European Parliament where a group of representatives (mostly belonging to the leftist list “The Other Europe with Tsipras”) filed a protest against what they suspect might constitute an extralegal detention, a violation of the Treaty on European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Charter on Fundamental Rights.
The Estonian authorities perspective is that Chiesa is a security threat and the detention was justified.
Legal aspects notwithstanding, the detention of Chiesa clearly appears to be motivated by censorship and intimidation: the Estonian authorities are openly troubled by the Italian reporter opinions and they acted to prevent him from sharing them with the few hundred people who were attending the conference. The accusation that Chiesa is some kind of Russian agent of propaganda and as such is a threat to the Estonian state does feel like an excuse: if he really was an immediate and serious danger they would never release him after just a few hours. Which makes the urgency of the detention suspect at best. Also, the timing of the ban, just a few days before Chiesa was to attend the conference, suggests very strongly that the measure was surgically targeted.
What’s really troubling – actually, outrageous – is that, no matter if laws were broken or the authorities abused their power, a EU country has infringed on the freedom of speech right of a European citizen, journalist and former member of the parliament. Apparently, the Estonian government – and not the Estonian citizens who could attend the conference and debate or criticize the speech – gets to decide what is Russian propaganda and what isn’t. The message is crystal clear and even intimidating. Just think about how a much less renowned journalist could react after realizing that expressing any harshly critical opinion that doesn’t measure to the standards of what the authorities consider legit criticism could get him/her branded as a security threat and a Russian agent.
It would also be interesting to know what the authorities of all the other western countries who maintain a heavy state sponsored NGO presence abroad think of the Estonian authorities attitude towards NGOs accused of being instruments of Russian propaganda. If they share the evaluation then how can the double standard be logically reconciled?
This incident casts another shadow on Europe and suggests that the tearing of the democratic fabric and the degeneration of the common sense that follows in the wake of the anti-Russian media campaign might be slowly spreading to the whole continent.
[Off topic.] Take a step back for the wider view, from an international journo with impeccable cred. Take heart!
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/11/these_are_lies_the_new_york_times_wants_you_to_believe_about_russia/
The West slipping more and more into dictatorship one incident at a time.This good be great fodder for another “Back to the Future” movie.It could be titled Back to the Future-1984.
Full spectrum dominance over “The Truth” by marginalizing the reporters, journalists, media, images, and sound tracks, altering the repositories and terrorizing and hacking alternate sources.
They kill, torture and imprison the Truthbearers.
They target the other voices.
They infiltrate the other sources.
Chiesa writes for Il Fatto Quotidiano, the only Italian daily that has broken the NATO consensus over MH-17.
I know that there is no anti-NATO daily in US, UK, or France. Unless there is still a dissident daily paper in Germany or Slovakia, il Fatto Quotidiano should be the only dissident daily still tolerated in the West.
A good point by Mr Janovic, above. What little breathing room is left to publicize opinions that stand against the official US/EU party line is rapidly vanishing.
Good to have this update – this situation is quite telling. The only quibble with Leonardo’s piece is in the last line: “the anti-Russian media campaign might be slowly spreading to the whole continent.”
It would be more accurate to change the conditional to the active: “the anti-Russian media campaign *has spread* to the whole continent.”
In fact, there has hardly been any other campaign or narrative recognized by the mass of Europeans, who perform the trained kneejerk reaction “Russia=bad” loyally.
Estonia must be sanctioned by the EU for failure to abide by human rights standards,described in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, using (Article 6 and 7 of the consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union 1992), the same articles the EU used to sanction Austria in january 2000 when 14 europeans states decided to cut diplomatic relations , in this terms: “not promote or accept any bilateral official at political level with an Austrian Government “and
“there will be no support in favour of Austrian candidates seeking positions in international organizations”
“Austrian Ambassadors in EU capitals will only be received at a technical level”
By the way do you remember why Austria was sanctioned 14 years ago?
Because there was a political party (the FPÖ) in the new government that was described as ‘right wing populist party with extremist expressions’. and “Party officials have made statements that can be interpreted as xenophobic and which indicate praise for Austrian Waffen SS veterans.(Report by Martti Ahtisaari, and others, adopted in Paris on 8 September 2000)
It seems incredible to read these words today thinking of baltic states ministers sending their greetings to the meetings of SS veterans and the european support for the nazies in Ucraine.
In the case of Giulietto Chiesa we are in presence of violation of the fundamental freedoms by a state, part of the EU, and this violation must be sanctioned.If this will not happen ,than we can understand that there is another agenda of the masters of the EU and it is not in relation with “Human rights and freedoms” for the people.
Mi pareva scritto troppo bene in Italiano, difatti è a firma di Leonardo. Articolo correttissimo e veritiero. Sono stato tra i primi a lanciare l’allarme sul Web, che si è mobilitato con una forza poderosa accelerando i tempi per il ritorno in Libertà del nostro caro Giulietto.
Una persona corretta onesta rigorosa un vero ricercatore della verità, qualunque essa sia. Ha avuto l’appoggio immediato dei Parlamentari del moVimento 5* al quale io mi onoro di appartenere. Poi Pino Cabras con Megachip e Pandora tv, poi Massimo Mazzucco di Luogocomune, Poi Comedonchisciotte, poi Maurizio Blondet e Tom Bosco e la lista è lunghissima. Fosse capitato un “incidente” del genere prima di Internet, il buon Giulietto sarebbe marcito in galera per mesi, probabilmente. I mangia merluzzo Estoni, paesino insignificante, da servi sciocchi quali sono non avevano fatto i conti con la Rete. Hanno, come si dice da noi, pestato una cacca. Idioti. Grazie a Giulietto, per esistere, per esserci e per resistere. Fuori dalla Nato fuori dalla UE.
Russia should kick out every single Natoist from Russia.
Anonymous said…
Estonia must be sanctioned by the EU for failure to abide by human rights standards,described in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, using (Article 6 and 7 of the consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union 1992),
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Human rights standards are valid only when UKUSA wants to apply pressure on Russia to get more concessions
I dont understand, what that fuzz is about? Each independent country can ban people from entering. There are a lot of people, who have been banned from entering Russia and many of them in political reasons. The right to visit a foreign country is not a human right and he is free to express his opinions at home.
Estonia should have never been admitted to the EU. I met an EU (old Europe) diplomat a few years back who was quite frank about it and who said what everyone knows about it anyway: “Yes, we know they are Nazis and yes the economic value of this Estonia is zero or rather a negative but America needs a launchpad for potential war with Russia, and Estonia is the ideal territory, that’s why we must take it).
Estonia is an abusive artificial ethno-Nazi statelet where people get arrested for their opinions, where the system of ethnic discrimination is such that it would put old South Africa to shame, and where a large strata of population are disenfranchised on ethnic (in Estonian understanding on racial grounds). However you want hear a voice of concern about all this in mainstream EU or Fourth Reich’s media. In fact, Estonia – most surreally gets a great deal of praise for its reforms and for “freedom of speech” (I kid you not) from its Fourth Reich’s minders.
Not even the war of aggression against Yugoslavia but admission (the medical term for it I guess is enlargement) of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the EU was decisive for me at least as it was the most undeniable proof that the EU is absolutely evil and has to be done away with.
The arrest of Giulietto Chiesa is a scandal. I did not believe it happened. It just shows how brazen and insolent had the ethno-Nazis become but perhaps here they might have gone so far. I hope Italians won’t forget this outrage right away and that we see will some sort of reaction to the all this.
Roobit – sounds like the next Nazi coutry to invade then:) I dont really understand, where all the hatred is coming from. I am pretty sure that big and strong Russia should not be afraid of Estonia (which has no economy, no mineral resources and still better gdp than Russia).
Speaking of the Estonian Waffen SS, you must note that they were draftees, and not ideologically motivated, like the volunteers for the Skanderbeg in Kosovo, the Handzar in Bosnia, or the Galizien division in the Ukraine.
Do you people think that illegal police action only happens in Estonia and not in other EU countries ?
I know of people living in Italy that gave been completely isolated from their relatives who live in the same city . The police visited those relatives and either threatened them or gave them money for the purpose of isolating their relatives . In the EU there is a lot of gang stalking going on , illegal operations . completely denied by the authorities .
Because the onus is on the person to get the proof
there is no chance of getting evidence when there
are dozens of different people doing illegal operations .
Morte al Nuovo Ordine
All western citizens must accept this important fact:
We all live in inverted totalitarian states now.
For the vast majority of westerners, especially the sheeple in the US, the latest I-phone matters to them far more than their loss of rights and freedoms. A sad state of affairs it is.
Yes – Western people are losing the rights and freedoms as the frightening tactics are working and fear is growing. In the same time there are no rights and freedoms in Russia and people are happy as long as people believe, that their leader is doing the right thing – recreating Russian empire and bringing back Ortodox Christian values (Whatever those are. Hopefully not some sort of Byzantium rules, where there was a new ruler every 5 years with the old one killed in more inhuman way than the previous one:)).
Estonia behaves like a banana republic lead by a dictator in Africa would have done in colonial days. “Yes, master Washington, how high?”
They are not even much better economically, the cities are richer, but the average citizen is poor and they are known for their thievery, scamming and tax evasion in neighboring Finland. Despite being liked otherwise (as they are a brotherly finnic people).
Terveisin
That is Estonian security policy. Staying neutral didnt work out during the WWII, therefore we need some leverage in dealing with Russia. You can of course try finlandization and the future will show advantages/disadvantages of both strategies. And yes – Estonia still is a poor country but it does develop quickly and sooner or later will catch up with the rest of Europe.
Häid pühi!