“Forensic Safari”. The George Clooney Foundation has launched a hunt for Russian journalists

The George and Amal Clooney Foundation project plans to stage a legal hunt for employees of Russian state media who are accused of “war propaganda.” Docket lawyers are already preparing requests to initiate cases in the courts of those European countries whose legislation has relevant criminal articles. The Kremlin called this idea crazy, and the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “they pay well for Russophobia in the West,” and the actor and his lawyer wife are “ready to make money on anything.”

The Docket Project of the Foundation of actor George Clooney and his wife Amal said it will seek arrest warrants for journalists from Russian state media. A corresponding appeal will be submitted to the International Criminal Court, said project director for legal issues Anna Neistat .

“One of the ways to prosecute Russian propagandists is to ask the ICC to prosecute and open an investigation into their involvement in incitement to genocide,” Neistat said on Voice of America.

As Docket representatives emphasize, Russian state media had a great influence on the development of the Ukrainian conflict. Their employees are not located in countries that implement ICC decisions, but the very fact of issuing a warrant for their arrest “will be a very significant step.”

The criminal codes of many European countries have an article on “war propaganda,” the foundation notes. Currently, lawyers are drawing up requests to initiate cases in the courts of those states where the relevant norms are present in the legislation. Moreover, if an arrest warrant is issued, Russian journalists may be detained throughout Europe.

According to Neistat, appeals to the courts have not yet been sent. The fund also did not name the journalists against whom cases could be opened, but noted that we are talking about “the most obvious Russian propagandists, the most visible of them.”

Dirty things will not become reality

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called the idea of ​​employees of the Clooney Foundation to seek the arrests of Russian journalists abroad crazy.

“I suggest Russian journalists ask these madmen for their reasoning,” — TASS agency quotes the response of the Kremlin representative.

Chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia Vladimir Solovyov declared that threats against Russian journalists abroad are unacceptable, and called the actions of the Clooney Foundation contrary to laws on freedom of the press.

“Threats against journalists, and even more so alleged reprisals against our colleagues, are absolutely unacceptable. Clooney and his wife can come up with any dirty tricks, but their dreams are unlikely to come true,” Soloviev expressed confidence.

In his opinion, one can only feel sorry for the members of the fund, because they “only believe in their own propaganda, it is impossible to convince them.”

The statements of the Clooney Foundation were also commented on by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova. She recalled that in 2022, the actor began contracting Western lawyers to represent the interests of media workers in the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

According to the Russian diplomat, “all the work was done then by the lawyers of the Debevoise company, Clooney’s group was included there solely for PR reasons.” Now the actor’s foundation has decided to switch to a “judicial safari for Russian journalists.”

“It turns out that the protection of journalists in the understanding of the Clooney couple is their persecution through criminal prosecution for political reasons, and also on ethnic grounds. It is no secret that Russophobia in the West pays well. And these two PR people are apparently ready to make money on anything,” says Zakharova’s post on Telegram.

Sanctions and bans

According to information on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, 30 countries have already introduced restrictions against Russian media, as well as separately the European Union and NATO. For example, the Council of the EU banned the broadcast of any content from the RT and Sputnik channels on its territory, suspended the broadcasting of “Russia RTR/RTR Planeta”, “Russia 24/Russia 24” and “International TV Center”, revoked broadcasting licenses from NTV/“ NTV-Mir”, “Russia-1”, “REN TV” and “Channel One”. In addition, the EU imposed personal sanctions against the general director of the TASS news agency Sergei Mikhailov , the general director of VGTRK Oleg Dobrodeev, the editor-in-chief and owner of the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper Pavel Gusev, the president of the Krasnaya Zvezda media holding Alexey Pimanov and many others.

As part of the 11th sanctions package, the licenses of RT Balkan, Oriental Review, Tsargrad, Katekhon, and New Eastern Outlook were suspended. Also on the sanctions list were military correspondents Semyon Pegov, Evgeny Poddubny, Alexander Sladkov, and Mikhail Zvinchuk, first deputy general director of NTV Alexander Kosterin, first deputy general director of VGTRK Andrey Kondrashov, head of the regional department of VGTRK Rifat Sabitov and others.

On May 17, the European Union officially banned work in the territory of the association of Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestia, and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. It was also noted that, in accordance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights, representatives of these media will be able to operate in the EU.

In March 2022, the RT America television channel was discontinued in the United States. Washington also imposed sanctions against the Russian television channels Rossiya 1, Channel One, and NTV. TV presenters Valery Solovyov and Olga Skabeeva were also sanctioned.

The case of journalists in Rwanda

Representatives of the Clooney spouses’ foundation cite the case of Thousand Hills Radio (RTLM) journalists, who were accused of involvement in the genocide in Rwanda, as an example of a successful legal case.

The radio station operated in the country from July 8, 1993, to July 31, 1994. It was private but received funding from the state station Radio Rwanda. Some of its employees were later found guilty of inciting genocide and the extermination of Tutsi carried out during this period on the orders of the Hutu government. They were sentenced to long prison terms, but many managed to leave the country.

In 2004, the country’s constitution was amended to prohibit political mobilization on an ethnic basis, deeming any attempt to revive Hutu and Tutsi ethnic identity an “ideology of genocide.”