ZAKHAROVA: EU COURT HAS INTRODUCED TOTALITARIAN CENSORSHIP

MOSCOW, JULY 2 /SRNA/ – The EU Court of Justice’s ruling allowing criminal prosecution for publishing content from Russian media represents the introduction of totalitarian censorship and a serious violation of human rights, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today.

"The ruling is yet another clear example of how the EU is using the judiciary as a facade to conceal its transformation into a space of the harshest political censorship, legal arbitrariness and hypocrisy," Zakharova said in a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.

She described the ruling as another the EU’s step toward totalitarian censorship, the promotion of antagonism and the erosion of the democratic foundations of society, adding that the practice should be condemned by the relevant international organisations.

According to her, their silence could be interpreted as support for the actions of the European bureaucracy.

She stressed Moscow regards the ruling as a serious violation of the international obligations of the European Union and its member states in the field of protecting fundamental human rights, including the right to free access to information and freedom of expression.