Albanian authorities on Friday blocked the offices of the daily Tema, which recently published stories alleging official corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported.
Police in capital Tirana surrounded the premises, barring journalists from entering the building, the daily's publisher, Mero Baze, said in a statement posted on Tema's website. Baze said he called Tirana's police chief, who told him the order to bar the staff from the building was issued by Albania's Ministry of Interior.
On December 16, Albania's economic ministry severed the paper's lease on offices in a state-owned building without notice; Tema had held the offices for 20 years, said Balkan Insight, the news website of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network. In his statement Friday on Tema's website, Baze said the daily won a lawsuit to regain their lease on January 6. Despite the court's ruling, Tirana police barred journalists.
On December 31, Baze's car caught fire and exploded, the Tirana-based Albanian Media Institute reported. Police said the explosion was an accident, caused by a short circuit, while Baze claimed it was retaliation for Tema's critical journalism, the Balkan Insight reported.
"Police should immediately allow Tema journalists to enter their offices and do their job," said CPJ's Europe and Central Asia Programme Coordinator Nina Ognianova. "Instead of harassing the reporters, authorities should investigate the recent explosion of publisher Mero Baze's car. Such methods of intimidation of a critical news outlet are incompatible with the democratic path Albania has chosen."
In late fall, Tema, a pro-opposition newspaper that specialises in investigative reporting, published a series of articles alleging high-level government corruption. Prime Minister Sali Berisha has personally rejected all allegations, accusing Baze of opposition bias, the local press reported.
