France: IFJ President and General Secretary file complaint after receiving death threats

One hundred and eighty signatories of an opinion piece, including the President and the General Secretary of the IFJ, calling for greater safety for journalists, have been threatened with "a bullet in the back of the head" by a far-right website. The article lists individuals who, according to its author, should be "executed". A complaint was lodged in Paris on 15 July 2024.

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Londres, 18 juin 2024. Anthony Bellanger et Dominique Pradalié, Secrétaire général et Présidente de la FIJ, ont déposé plainte après avoir été menacés de mort.

A far-right website has named 180 people as "candidates for a bullet in the back of the head". Nearly 80 journalists and trade unionists, left-wing politicians, lawyers, writers, philosophers, historians and artists have received clear death threats.

A complaint was lodged in Paris on Monday 15 July 2024 by Vincent Brengarth, of the William Bourdon law firm, on behalf of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Syndicat National des Journalistes(SNJ), numerous organisations representing journalists and some 30 individuals, including IFJ President Dominique Pradalié, IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger, SNJ General Secretary Emmanuel Poupard, the founder and director of 'Forbidden Stories', Laurent Richard, and journalist David Dufresne.

Their fault? They had all signed an opinion piece calling for greater safety for journalists, during the "Etats généraux de l'information" (an initiative launched by French President Macron in 2023 to reflect on information-related issues in a participatory framework).

Following this murder call published on 3 October 2023, the IFJ, which represents some 600,000 journalists in more than 148 countries around the world, is demanding answers from the French authorities to the following questions:

- What investigations have been carried out since the publication of this article to identify the author(s)?

- What measures have been taken to prosecute them and prevent them from causing harm?

- What steps have been taken to ensure the safety of those named as targets?

Given the particularly odious and unprecedented nature of these acts, the IFJ expects a clear and public condemnation from the President of the Republic.

France, like any democratic country, has an obligation to achieve results.