Berlin, March 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists and six other international media freedom organizations expressed concern over revelations that Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) physically surveilled and wiretapped investigative journalist Victor Ilie and called for Romanian authorities to investigate the agency’s actions.
On March 17, the journalist revealed that he had been under surveillance for two months in 2023, linked to his reporting on the alleged smuggling of Ukrainian grain through Romania. Authorities followed him, tapped his phone, and monitored his activities, despite recognizing him as a journalist.
The joint statement said that while the operation was approved by a court, the surveillance appeared to have been “disproportionate and lacking in proper justification, posing a serious threat to source protection and press freedom.” It added that “as soon as Ilie’s status as a journalist was identified, authorities should have immediately taken into account international standards for journalistic source confidentiality.”
The organizations support the recent call by Romanian journalists and civic groups for authorities to provide full transparency on this case and others, including previous surveillance incidents against journalists in Romania.
Read the full statement here.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.
CPJ Staff | Radio Free (2025-03-24T18:00:40+00:00) CPJ, partners demand answers over surveillance of investigative journalist Victor Ilie. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/03/24/cpj-partners-demand-answers-over-surveillance-of-investigative-journalist-victor-ilie/
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