The Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine continued to cast a shadow across Europe and Central Asia, while political leaders inflamed tensions in the Western Balkans. The right to peaceful protest continued to be widely restricted and literary expression remained under threat across the region. On a positive note, PEN celebrated long-awaited regional legal reforms and improvements for several persecuted writers.   

The shadow of war  

PEN International deplored the continued suffering of millions in the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, with Russian forces committing war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law, including destruction of educational facilities. At least 15 journalists have been killed by Russian forces in Ukraine while carrying out their professional duties since the 2022 full-scale invasion. Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, missing since August 2023 while reporting in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, reportedly died on 19 September in the Russian Federation while being transferred to Moscow. The Russian authorities provided no information about her death.  

The killing of at least 153 cultural figures by the end of 2024, as recorded by PEN Ukraine, marked yet another grim milestone in the Russian Federation’s destruction of Ukrainian cultural life. Those killed included writers, translators, artists, musicians, photographers, and historians who played a key role in enriching and celebrating Ukraine’s culture and identity. On 1 July, PEN International paid homage to PEN Ukraine member and war crimes investigator Victoria Amelina, who died from injuries sustained in a Russian missile strike a year before (see Ukraine section below), renewing its calls for accountability. Meanwhile, Russian destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage continued unabated, with UNESCO verifying at least 468 cultural sites, including museums, libraries, and archives, damaged by the end of the year. PEN Ukraine and partners continued to play a leading role in preserving the memory and legacy of cultural figures killed by Russian forces, and supporting Ukraine’s cultural life and literary community. A partnership with Book Aid International in support of PEN Ukraine’s Unbreakable Libraries project saw an additional 15,000 books donated.  

On 23 May, after two postponements amidst strong opposition from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 11 July as international day of reflection and commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide. Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska (one of two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina) intensified secessionist rhetoric in the lead-up to the vote. Both leaders again inflamed tensions across the Western Balkans, with marches against the resolution taking place in Banja Luka, the capital of Republika Srpska. On 30 April, PEN members from countries in the former Yugoslavia issued a call for peace, endorsed by nearly 100 writers from the region. 

Justice delayed, justice denied  

 On 2 February, a court in Serbia acquitted four former state security officers who had been twice convicted of the 1999 murder of journalist, editor, and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija. The ruling sent a dangerous signal that attacks against writers and journalists in Serbia would go unpunished (see Serbia section below). In Türkiye, impunity also continued for the 2007 killing of Armenian language magazine editor Hrant Dink (see Türkiye section below). 

In April, authorities in Norway dismissed the case regarding the attempted murder of prominent publisher, PEN International vice president, and former president of PEN Norway, William Nygaard. His legal team successfully appealed against the decision to close the investigation, which authorities announced in July would resume (see Norway section below).  

Seven years after the killing of investigative journalist and anti-corruption campaigner Daphne Caruana Galizia, PEN International joined partners in urging authorities in Malta to implement measures to create an enabling media environment.  

In a welcome move, on 12 June, an Amsterdam court sentenced seven men for the 2021 killing of Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries. The prosecution appealed, calling for harsher sentences (see The Netherlands section below). On 30 January, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that the Russian Federation’s failure to effectively investigate security risks against, and protect the lives of two murdered journalists Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev and Khadzhimurad Kamalov, violated their rights and ordered compensation for family members.  

Arbitrary detention and unfair trials 

Authorities in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan intensified their crackdown on writers and other cultural figures in a bid to crush all dissent. These countries held the saddest accolades of the worst jailers of journalists in Europe and Central Asia, with respectively 31, 30 and 13 journalists held behind bars as of 1 December 2024, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.   

The situation in Belarus remained of grave concern, with the UN concluding that authorities may have committed crimes against humanity. PEN welcomed the establishment of a group of independent experts to investigate violations, collect and preserve evidence, and identify those responsible. At least 1,265 political prisoners were held at the end of the year, according to Viasna. Torture and other-ill-treatment of detainees remained systematic and widespread. Several individuals continued to be held in prolonged incommunicado detention, including writer and lawyer Maksim Znak. The health of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski reportedly deteriorated due to inadequate healthcare (see Belarus section below). The authorities of Belarus increasingly targeted relatives of dissidents and mounted acts of transnational repression, opening at least 104 criminal cases against Belarusians abroad who took part in Freedom Day celebrations in March.  

 In flagrant violation of international law, Ukrainian writers and journalists languished behind bars on fabricated grounds in Russian-occupied territories and in the Russian Federation, including citizen journalists and human rights defenders Iryna Danylovych and Server Mustafayev. Russian authorities also mounted acts of transnational repression against Russian writers. In February, a court issued an arrest warrant against London-based best-selling novelist Grigory Chkhartishvili, better known by his pen name Boris Akunin, for ‘justifying terrorism’ in relation to his support for Ukraine. In July, Russian-US writer and PEN member Masha Gessen was handed an eight-year prison sentence in absentia for ‘spreading false information about the military’ in relation to a 2022 interview where Gessen spoke about Russian war crimes in Bucha.  

The United Nations climate change conference (COP29), held in Baku in November, shone a light on serious freedom of expression concerns in Azerbaijan, where hundreds of people remained behind bars on politically motivated charges. Renowned scholar Gubad Ibadoghlu, detained in July 2023, was released into house arrest in April. Facing up to 17 years in prison, he is in poor health.  

In yet another tragedy for the rule of law in Türkiye, writer and opposition politician Selahattin Demirtaş was sentenced to 42 years in prison. In April, the ECtHR granted priority status to a second case lodged by publisher Osman Kavala, concerning violations perpetrated against him since the Court’s ruling of December 2019 urging his release (see Türkiye section below).  

Crackdown on peaceful protests 

Authorities across the region unduly restricted the right to peaceful protest. In Georgia, following disputed parliamentary elections in October, nationwide protests were violently dispersed by police. Journalists reported being deliberately targeted by security forces; several required hospitalisation. PEN Georgia documented the brutal beating of poet and translator Zviad Ratiani by police on 29 November in Tbilisi. Ratiani – who suffered serious injuries, including fractures to his nose and back – was sentenced to eight days of administrative detention on 2 December.  

Human rights organisations highlighted how many European countries continued to unduly restrict the right to protest, including of climate, LGBTQI+, and minority rights activists, as well as those expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people in marches, demonstrations and cultural activities. For example, protests in February in cities in Italy were violently dispersed and in May, according to Amnesty International, law enforcement authorities in countries such as Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom dispersed pro-Palestinian protest camps in university precincts, sometimes resorting to excessive use of force. 

Repressive laws and surveillance  

Authorities across the region adopted Russian-style laws aimed at silencing all criticism and dismantling civil society. In April, Kyrgyzstan enacted a repressive ‘foreign representatives’ law. A similar law in Georgia came into force in August, despite earlier mass protests against it that were met by police violence. Attempts by Republika Srpska President Dodik to introduce a similar ‘foreign agents’ law were temporarily stalled in May following a national and international outcry. In Türkiye, a proposed ‘agent of influence’ bill was temporarily withdrawn in November, following sustained civil society pressure. In October, the ECtHR issued a landmark ruling on the Russian Federation’s ‘foreign agents’ legislation, condemning it as ‘stigmatising, misleading and used in an overly broad and unpredictable way’ and concluding its purpose was to ‘punish and intimidate’.  

Russian Federation authorities continued using ‘LGBTQI propaganda’ laws to harass the LGBTQI community, resulting in detentions and at least three LGBTQI groups shutting down. Television channels and streaming services were fined for running LGBTQI-related content. Similar laws were enacted in Bulgaria and in Georgia in August and October; the latter provides a legal basis to censor films and books.   

Surveillance continued to pose a threat to journalists and activists across the region. In December, a tribunal in the United Kingdom found that police had unlawfully spied on northern Irish journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney in connection with their 2018 award-winning documentary No Stone Unturned, about the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, and sought to spy on over 800 other individuals. A December report by Amnesty International exposed the widespread use of advanced phone spyware by authorities in Serbia to unlawfully target journalists and activists – including at the KROKODIL Centre for Contemporary Literature (see Serbia section below). 

 Censorship and book bans 

Authorities in Türkiye kept a tight grip on the media and publishing landscape, with some books vilified by pro-government media as ‘obscene’. On 12 July, storytelling platform Wattpad was the latest victim of a series of court orders blocking popular social media platforms and other websites, including literary publishers. In September, police detained several individuals and seized hundreds of books from a bookstore on alleged terror-related grounds during raids in Diyarbakır. Scores of Kurdish writers continued to be persecuted for their writings promoting Kurdish language and culture, including novelist Yavuz Ekinci, who faced up to seven-and-a-half years in prison (see Türkiye section below).  

In the Russian Federation, publishers recalled books with LGBTQI content. A court in Nizhny Novgorod fined a bookstore RUB500,000 (approximately USD5,000) for selling a novel depicting same-sex relations. On 8 July, a military court sentenced theatre director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk to six years’ imprisonment on fabricated grounds. The case against them stemmed from their award-winning play Finist Yasny Sokol (Finist, The Brave Falcon), about Russian women who travelled to Syria and married members of armed groups (see Russian Federation section below). 

 In October, writer and government critic Roberto Saviano participated in the Frankfurt Book Fair despite being excluded from the official Italian delegation. Forty-one writers signed a letter of protest denouncing Saviano’s exclusion (see Italy section below). 

 Good news  

The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe, which includes PEN International, welcomed the adoption in February of a Directive against ‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’ (SLAPPs), intended to protect journalists and media outlets from abusive litigation across European Union member states. The April 2024 Council of Europe’s non-binding recommendation provided a roadmap for jurisdictions that are not subject to the EU Directive. The May 2024 European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) established new EU rules to protect media pluralism and independence. 

 Some persecuted writers saw improvements in their situation, in part due to PEN International’s campaigns. On 8 March, Serbia lifted an expulsion order against Russian literary translator Elena Koposova, who had signed a petition condemning the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine. That month, authorities in Montenegro dropped all charges against PEN member Boban Batrićević brought in relation to his writings (see Montenegro section below). On 25 June, Wikileaks founder and publisher Julian Assange was released from prison in the United Kingdom following a plea deal with US prosecutors (see United Kingdom section below). Russian-US journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was freed from prison in the Russian Federation on 1 August in a prisoner exchange that included US reporter Evan Gershkovich and Russian-British writer Vladimir Kara-Murza. On 31 October, Belarusian filmmaker and journalist Andrej Hniot, at risk of extradition to Belarus, was freed from house arrest and allowed to leave Serbia (see Serbia entry below). Kurdish poet İlhan Sami Çomak was released on 26 November after spending 30 years in prison in Türkiye. PEN members continued to write to persecuted writers throughout the region, providing much needed encouragement and hope.