Sanctions were once sold as a gentler foreign policy tool for exerting pressure on dictatorships and terrorist organizations. Yet measures like banning individuals from having bank accounts or traveling are increasingly used to chill free speech in Europe.

Doğru was editor in chief of the portal red., which specializes in anti-colonial perspectives. Red. has ceased operations due to the sanctions. Doğru’s case is unique because of the official reason for his punishment: his is the only entry in the sanctions regime RUSDA, which punishes alleged support for Russia, that refers to coverage of the Middle East conflict. Doğru, his company AFA Medya, and the website red. allegedly supported Russian attempts to “undermine or threaten stability and security in the [European] Union” by supporting “violent demonstrations” and “systematically spreading false information.” The EU accuses Doğru of maintaining “close financial and organisational connections with Russian state propaganda entities.” The EU claims that Doğru “shares deep structural ties, including interlinkages between, and rotation of, individual personnel with Russian state media organisations.”

The allegedly “violent” demonstration refers to the occupation of Humboldt University in Berlin by pro-Palestinian activists in 2024. Because Doğru reported on the occupation on his website, he is said to have created a platform for the “rioters” to spread the ideology and symbols of terrorist groups such as Hamas. Does reporting on protests against the German government or its allies constitute an exercise of a fundamental right in a democracy or political subversion on behalf of a hostile power? For the EU, it’s the latter.