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image captionLyra McKee was regarded by many as a rising star in Northern Ireland media circles
The family of Lyra McKee have written to residents in Creggan in Londonderry appealing for information ahead of the second anniversary of her killing.
The family are asking local people to help them achieve justice for Lyra .
Paul McIntyre, 52, from Ballymagowan Park in the city has been charged with her murder, which he denies.
At a previous court appearance the prosecution alleged Mr McIntyre was seen walking beside the gunman and that he was seen crouching down and picking up four cartridge cases from the gun used to murder Ms McKee.
‘Worrying picture’: Journalists in Europe face increasing risk, press freedom group warns Jon Henley Europe correspondent
The murder of a high-profile Greek journalist last week marks the fourth killing of a reporter in Europe in the past five years and has underlined growing concerns about a steady decline of press freedoms in several EU member states.
“It is a worrying picture,” said Pavol Szalai, head of the EU/Balkans desk at Reporters Without Borders (RSF). “Europe remains the safest place in the world to be a journalist, but the pressures on press freedoms – and the risks – are mounting.”
Karaivaz’s murder came five years after the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in Malta in 2017, and four years after Ján Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, were discovered shot dead outside their home in Slovakia.
In Hungary, which Szalai called âa counter-modelâ for press freedom in Europe, the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has used the pandemic to assume full powers. Anyone convicted of publishing âfake newsâ now faces a prison term of up to five years.
The move gives authorities yet another means of pressurising independent media, RSF said in its 2020 report, which ranked Hungary 89th out of 180 countries in its world Press Freedom Index after a series of earlier moves to control the media.
RSF said in Poland, ranked 62nd in its index, the governmentâs control over the judiciary has harmed press freedom, with some courts now invoking article 212 of the penal code which allows journalists to be sentenced to up to a year in prison on defamation charges.
COMMITTAL proceedings have begun against a man charged with the murder of journalist Lyra McKee and a man accused of rioting that night to decide if they should be sent for trial.