Hüseyin Dogru is the first E.U. citizen to be sanctioned by the union and the first journalist to land on the list because of his work. What is Dogru’s crime? Don’t ask: He has not committed one.
Pro-Israel protest on the Pariser Platz in Berlin on the day after Oct. 8, 2023. (Leonhard Lenz/Wikimedia Commons)
By Patrick Lawrence
Special to Consortium News
The following note appeared in the thread of my “X” account at 7:47 Saturday morning. It was posted by Hüseyin Dogru, a German journalist who lives, such as he and his family can, under European Union sanctions:
!!! HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCY CALL !!!
As of yesterday, German authorities seized the bank accounts of my wife.
She is not sanctioned and has committed no crime.
As of now we have only ca. 104 euros left — with two newborn babies and one 7-year-old child!!!@yanisvaroufakis… pic.twitter.com/0e1wrkXKWk
— Hüseyin Dogru (@hussedogru) March 28, 2026
Hüseyin Dogru is not given to histrionics or self-dramatizations, if this is what you’re thinking. He has been on the E.U.’s (increasingly long) sanctions list since May 20 of last year. While Dogru joins others dedicated to the truth of our time and the defense of their own integrity, he is the first E.U. citizen to be sanctioned and the first journalist to land on the list because of his work.
What is Dogru’s crime? Don’t ask: He has not committed one, has not been charged with one, and has not been permitted any opportunity to respond in court to those accusing him of … of practicing his profession and exercising his rights to free expression.
I will get to the particulars of the official documents in a sec. For now, this: Hüseyin Dogru, whose family is of Turkish origin, was born in Berlin and is a German citizen. As a journalist he has been critical of Israel, taken a strong position against the genocide in Gaza and written in support of the Palestinian cause. More later.
With the seizure of his spouse’s bank accounts last Friday, Dogru and his family now face what amounts to a starvation blockade of the kind the Trump regime (not to change the subject) currently imposes on Cuba and Israel imposes on Gaza.
This story reads like something out of Dostoyevsky or Kafka, I have to say. We are talking about a family of five going hungry in the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany as punishment for… what?… for seeing with his eyes open, for thinking about what he sees, then commenting on what he sees?
I would love to suggest various ways readers could support the Dogru family, but there are none. Were someone to donate so much as a loaf of bread to help sustain them the German authorities would count it a criminal offense punishable by a prison term of up to several years.
I discussed this question of assistance with a German friend over the weekend. The only way to come to the aid of Hüseyin Dogru, we determined, would be to hand him, in person, an envelope of euros or a bag of groceries. And this would be to take a risk, of course.
The above quoted social media post was addressed to some names readers will recognize: Yanis Varoufakis, Stella Assange, Alan MacLeod, Clare Daly, Mary Kostakidis, Chris Hedges and on down a long list. The best coverage of the Dogru case I have seen has appeared in Berliner Zeitung, which I have read courtesy of the translations sent me by Eva–Maria Föllmer Müller, a German friend and colleague.
European Media Silence
As to the rest of European media, including Germany’s, there has been a resolute silence these past 11 months. In a series of social media posts over the weekend, Dogru reported that many people have written — your columnist is among them — to offer him and his family some mode of support.
Here are two of his replies: “People ask me what we can do. Legally, I cannot comment, as it could link me to the act and put my family at risk. All I can say is that resisting injustice through civil disobedience is legitimate and morally justified.”
People ask me what we can do. Legally, I cannot comment, as it could link me to the act and put my family at risk. All I can say is that resisting injustice through civil disobedience is legitimate and morally justified.
— Hüseyin Dogru (@hussedogru) March 28, 2026
And then this: “Also a call to journalists who know about my case and had access to the files — you chose to stay silent. You are also responsible for the situation of my children.”
Also a call to journalists who know about my case and had access to the files — you chose to stay silent.
You are also responsible for the situation of my children.
— Hüseyin Dogru (@hussedogru) March 28, 2026
On March 15 Berliner Zeitung published an interview with Alexander Gorski, Dogru’s attorney. Here is a little of what Gorski said when asked how nearly a year’s sanctions has affected Dogru’s life:
“The impact on him and his family is devastating. From one day to the next, his accounts were frozen. He is not permitted to conduct any financial transactions and must have every use of his assets approved by the Bundesbank. Currently, only €506 per month are authorized, with which he must make ends meet…. Furthermore, his bank, Comdirect, repeatedly imposes additional restrictions on the use of these €506…. The risk of committing a criminal offense by having financial contact with my client is very high…. Leading a normal family life under these circumstances is virtually impossible. This situation is often described as “civil death” — and that is exactly what applies here….”
Nine days after this interview appeared, the District Court in Frankfurt am Main rejected an emergency appeal Gorski filed, requiring Dogru’s bank to unblock funds he needs to meet routine obligations — fees to service providers, insurance payments, and the like. The court ruled that Dogru has no “right to an injunction.”
Symbol of the Euro in Frankfurt, 2023. (Sandro Halank, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
It was four more days until, last Saturday, the Central Office of Sanctions Enforcement, a federal authority in Berlin, seized the accounts of Dogru’s spouse.
This is the same treatment accorded others on the E.U. sanctions list. “Civil death” is precisely the term.
Jacques Baud, the noted Swiss commentator, is prominent among these others. The paying-attention population of Europe was shocked when he was sanctioned, last December, a case I wrote of in The Floutist under the headline, “Free Speech and its Enemies.”
Here is Baud’s entry in the E.U. Sanctions Tracker, the list of those the E.U. has summarily blacklisted:
“Jacques Baud, a former Swiss army colonel and strategic analyst, is a regular guest on pro–Russian television and radio programmes. He acts as a mouthpiece for pro–Russian propaganda and makes conspiracy theories, for example accusing Ukraine of orchestrating its own invasion in order to join NATO.”
Hüseyin Dogru’s rap sheet is similarly preposterous. In sum, the E.U. runs miles with his previous association with a now-defunct digital channel called Redfish, which was partly funded by a subsidiary of the Novosti–RT group.
Here is an extract from Dogru’s entry in the E.U. Sanctions Tracker. His case is No. 20 in the document linked here. In it you find a salad of factual inaccuracies along with the beyond-flimsy case it purports to document against him:
“RED [Redfish] has used its media platforms — often publishing under ‘redstreamnet’ or ‘thered.stream’ — to systematically spread false information on politically controversial subjects with the intent of creating ethnic, political and religious discord amongst its predominantly German target audience, including by disseminating the narratives of radical Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas….
Through AFA Medya [a media company based in Istanbul, the purported sponsor of “RED”], Hüseyin Dogru thus supports actions by the Government of the Russian Federation which undermine or threaten stability and security in the Union and in one or several of its Member States, including by indirectly supporting and facilitating violent demonstrations and engaging in coordinated information manipulation….”
This is a hard bouncing ball to follow, as readers may note. Dogru wrote critically of Israel and the Gaza genocide (among various other topics, including German foreign policy) and this was in the service of spreading Russian disinformation in the cause of destabilizing E.U. member states.
Got it?
When Berliner Zeitung asked Alexander Gorki, Dogru’s attorney, why the E.U. singled out Dogru, he replied, “We don’t know that. What we observe, however, is that the German government, in particular, is cracking down on people who express dissenting opinions on the Russia–Ukraine war or the issue of Palestine.”
Just parenthetically, Dogru opposed the Russian intervention in Ukraine and quit Redfish in protest immediately after it began in February 2022.
“The Commission in Brussels banned him, a European Union citizen, from the European Union,” Yanis Varoufakis remarked in the course of an appearance on The Chris Hedges Report last week. “They turned him into a non-person, ‘an asset of Putin,’ just because they could.”
It is those last four words that rattle me most. They resonate across the Western post-democracies.
—Eva–Maria Föllmer–Müller contributed invaluable research and translations.
Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, lecturer and author, most recently of Journalists and Their Shadows, available from Clarity Press or via Amazon. Other books include Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. His Twitter account, @thefloutist, has been restored after years of being permanently censored.
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Sanctions imposed without charges, a chance to be heard, or any clear way to challenge them undermine the rule of law. The treatment of Hüseyin Dogru and his family raises serious concerns about fairness, transparency, and fundamental rights. And while this case is striking, it is not isolated. In several countries — the UK among them — political expression is increasingly met with administrative penalties rather than open debate or due process. Naming this broader pattern isn’t about blame; it’s about safeguarding the principles that protect all of us: fairness, transparency, and the right to be heard. As our societies grow more interconnected, we depend on leaders who bring clarity, wisdom, and integrity. Only such leadership can move us beyond ignorance and harmful practices toward a more just and responsible global community. I’m also witnessing pockets of this shift toward more conscious and responsible leadership in particular parts of the world. These examples remind us that change is possible. Let us keep looking for — and encouraging — this kind of enlightened leadership wherever it begins to emerge.
“The court ruled that Dogru has no ‘right to an injunction.'” Right. We shant be bothered with something as trivial as due process, no matter how grossly absurd the case. All the while, presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, et.al., blatantly lie through their teeth with no consequence. Oh, how I long for the day when justice rolls down like a mighty stream and carries these evil doers into oblivion.
Patrick, this is sobering. We are not far behind here in the US. Most do not like to be reminded that Obama, having promised transparency went after more whistleblowers than all prior Presidents combined … and far more viciously. The path has been laid, the steps along it have led us to where we are.
As consortium reported, J.D. Vance in Munich Sec Conf Feb 2025 pwcifically called this out. I don’t know what other Western leaders and media supported him, except us:
“… The organizers of this very conference have banned lawmakers representing populist parties populist parties on both the left and the right from participating in these conversations. Now, again, we don’t have to agree with everything or anything that people say. But when political leaders represent an important constituency, it is incumbent upon us to at least participate in dialogue with them.
Now, to many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks more and more like old entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.”
I think the German government and the rest of Europe actually, is still smarting from the drubbing the Nazi German government took at the hands of the Russians. They were expected to destroy the Russians for Europe. Old grudges die hard. To the point they’ll use any scapegoat they can find to take out their frustrations on. They are hateful petty tyrants.
I thought that was a US/UK initiative. Not to say it’s mutually exclusive, but am I mistaken?
The Russians defeated Nazi Germany. The US/UK only claimed to have done so. Big difference.
Yes, but I meant in terms of the US and UK using Germany against the Soviets. Sorry for not being clear.
The Red Army liberated Auschwitz. The Soviets (mostly Russians) lost 27 million people defeating the Nazis. Western corporations continued to supply the Nazis with essential equipment during the war. Hollywood has done a good propaganda job of convincing Westerners that they were the real heroes of WW2.
Right. And with the US having taken control of West Germany and later reunified Germany, I’m questioning how much of this is motivated by revanchism on the Germans’ part and how much is it egged on by the US and UK.
Exactly. And having been in D.C. two years ago after two decades away, I saw the WWII Memorial put in place by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in the mid-2000’s. It is literally a Nazi-like, war propaganda site. It makes symbolic claim that the U.S. was responsible for the entire victory over the Nazi regime, as well as winning the war in the Pacific and Africa. We have definitely reached post-Imperial, Roman standards of Empire in the U.S. as of twenty years ago now. We are, collectively, the exact definition of crazy. Let’s hope that a new light will soon shine through the chinks of our delusions and open for us a new dawn in the West.
The description of his crime has been known since the 1950’s …… Thought Crime.
The Prussian Vons once again insist ….”You must Think as we tell you to Think.” At least the Empire of the Free World did not bomb him and his entire family for his Thought Crime. That’s what we do over in West Asia.
Germany exits “the free world.”
Germany has never been part of the “free world”.