German journalist Hüseyin Dogru denounces the devastating impact of EU sanctions on himself, his wife and his children
Commenti
You went public about the fact that you can no longer feed your children…
“Yes. I was sanctioned on the 28th of May last year, under the Russia sanctions, for my journalism on Palestine, the Palestine crackdown. The European Union considers talking about Palestine and the genocide to be propaganda for Russia. So after that, a lot of things happened: my account was frozen, I was put under a travel ban, I am not allowed to work. And after I got positive media attention, a second wave of repression started, which limited my ability to use the money that I am allowed to use, which is only 506 euros. Until now, most of our stuff had been paid by my wife: rent, electricity, food, and everything for my children. Then the sanctions implementation body in Germany ordered the freezing of my wife’s bank account, even though she isn’t sanctioned by the European Union. We appealed to the court and her accounts are now unfrozen again. She has the burden of paying for everything on her own, but she can’t, because I can only contribute 506 euros.
You have three children.
Two of them are six and a half months old, the other is 7 years old. Just buying milk and diapers for them is already 500 euros in a month. So we don’t know, because Germany has created a new sanctions implementation law which is very unique: it technically forbids every kind of support to me, and you can be charged up to 10 years for doing so [for providing support].
Even for providing food?
Yes, exactly.
What was the official rationale for sanctioning you?
According to the European Council, they sanctioned me because my media company, which is now closed, had close financial and organizational ties to Russian state propaganda and entities and actors. That’s what they say. And then they explained how they came to that conclusion, listing three things. One: Hüseyin Dogru was spreading terrorist propaganda by interviewing Palestinian agents and Yemeni and Lebanese, Ansar Allah, Hezbollah, PLFP [ Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] – all organizations that German media also interview, by the way. The second thing is that I have reported from a university occupation, the Humboldt university occupation, which they use to say I was spreading terrorist symbolism, because protesters had slogans, Free Palestine and everything. Then the third reason was that I was covering protests in Europe, violent protests, doing news about them. “Therefore” – and this is now the Russian connection – “Hüseyin Dogru is creating ethnic discord and threatening and undermining the unity of the European Union, therefore only Russia can benefit from it.”
Did they find any evidence?
No, the only link they have is that I was part of the founding members of a media outlet called Redfish, which was founded in 2017 and financed by Ruptly, which was a news agency connected to [Russian TV network] RT. So they say “Hüseyin Dogru worked there in the past, and now he is doing this, so it must be the same.” Redfish was owned by Ruptly and that was public, there was nothing hidden. “Since you worked once for a Russian outlet, you must still be a Russian outlet.” That is their logic right now.
It’s scary…
Europe is in a war mentality, especially Germany. German imperialism is coming back, money for war, war, war. It wants to go to war with Russia. There is already a war in the Middle East, and a genocide. And with me it is easy, because I have this Russian label from the past, and according to them I am a terrorist supporter. And there is also a racism aspect: my name is not Klaus Maier, my name is Hüseyin Dogru. And then I can also see, with journalists here, their solidarity is non-existent.
