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Western journalists persecuted for truth crimes

Russia Ukraine (Composite)

Petra Baass-Lipp, the mother of Alina Lipp, a journalist whom the German government is trying to imprison due to her reporting on Donbas, like her daughter, has fled Germany to Crimea due to persecution.

The German government arbitrarily closed her bank account recently.

First her bank account, then her father's bank account, and last mine, my account.

Petra Baass-Lipp

What effect did closing your bank account have?

You must imagine you can’t buy your food anymore. You can't pay your rent, you can't pay your insurance, you can pay nothing from one moment to the other. So what to do?

Petra Baass-Lipp

 

In Germany there was no legal decision over this, there was no court case. They didn't even tell you. They just shut it down?

No, they didn't tell anyone, no one; nothing.

Petra Baass-Lipp

So how did you manage?

I'm a creative person; I had some money, of course, luckily some cash … they told me I can go to the church to tell my story.

Petra Baass-Lipp

Did the state tell you that?

No, my bank, my bank officer told me because I asked him what should I do now and he told me young lady you can go to the church.

Petra Baass-Lipp

The German government is still attempting to imprison Alina Lipp for her work in Donbas.

Court documents and the reasons they give are that Alina has reported that Ukraine has been killing its own people in Donbas for eight years, and that the majority of people there support Russia, both of which are undeniable facts.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect of this case is that her court order effectively criminalizes honest reporting in Ukraine, since if you're a journalist, mainstream or otherwise, or a political figure, and you want to point out these two very important facts, you risk going to jail, which raises questions about Germany's ability to enact sensible policies with regard to the Ukraine.

As they see Alina as an enemy of their narrative, her message as a threat, they want to make Alina's move impossible by blocking the financial capability and creating psychological pressure.

They are distorting her focus out from the, from the things which she were doing before, and I mean, seeking the truth and telling the truth to the German audience.

And that is their target then when they are succeeding or disturbing her job then they think that they are winning the battle.

Yes, I think that the government's in Europe, because I'm not the only case, pursue or prosecute the parents of journalists because we, of course, get support of our parents, they support us.

Maybe also, it's the fact that if they close my bank account, probably the parents will help out.

For me it's an act of, maybe you can say, a suppressive state or even terror state; I don't know what what's going on in Germany now.

Alina Lipp, German Journalist

While WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange languishes in a British jail and French journalist Adrian Boke recently survived an assassination attempt in Turkey, which he suspects was carried out by the Ukrainian SBU, for Alina and her mother, its exile.

The threat to Western journalists who challenge the mainstream narrative with uncomfortable truths is growing.

 


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