Over recent years, some journalists in Europe have fallen victim to brutal killings: Hrant Dink in Turkey, Georgyi Gongadze in Ukraine and Elmar Huseynov in Azerbaijan, Anna Politkovskaya in Russia, said EU Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg.

No effort must be spared to apprehend and bring to justice not only the actual killers, but also those who ordered these murders, he said in a statement.

“Since 1992 more than one hundred journalists in the Council of Europe region have been killed because of their work. Many, many more have been physically attacked or have received threats.

This casts serious doubts on the effectiveness of law-enforcement bodies and the judiciary. It is a blatant neglect of human rights when authorities allow perpetrators to remain immune to punishment,” the statement reads.