Following the provisional suspension in the case of his wife, EU financial repression has now been extended to the mother of Hüseyin Doğru. The journalist was listed under the EU’s 17th sanctions package against Russia. A petition has now been launched against it.

In the case of Berlin-based journalist Hüseyin Doğru, who is subject to EU sanctions, the bank Comdirect has extended account freezes to his mother. “Germany’s collective punishment of my family continues”, Doğru wrote on Wednesday on the platform X. The savings of his “pensioner mother” are now inaccessible, Doğru wrote, posting the bank’s letter online.

The bank justifies the measure on the basis of an EU regulation from October 2024, which provides that funds may be frozen if an “existing control relationship” exists between a sanctioned person and the accounts of relatives — even if those relatives are not themselves on the sanctions list.

Doğru left with only €506 per month

The 43 years old Hüseyin Doğru is a German citizen. He was added to the sanctions list in May 2025 as part of the EU’s 17th sanctions package against Russia. The member states assembled in the Council of the European Union accuse him of systematically spreading disinformation through his media company “AFA Medya” and the affiliated platform RED, thereby supporting “Russia’s destabilising activities”.

It remains unclear who submitted the proposal for the listing, though it was likely the German government. Doğru and his lawyers also consider this “highly probable”: central reference points for the sanctions, they argue, are two German media reports by “Tagesspiegel” and “taz”.

Grounds for sanctions: report on occupation

As justification for the sanctions, a RED report from 2024 about a “violent occupation of a German university by anti-Israeli rioters” is cited — referring to Humboldt University in Berlin. The sanctions statement alleges, without evidence, that there had been “coordination between RED and the occupiers” “to distribute images of vandalism, including Hamas symbols, through RED’s online channels”.

“nd” and “Junge Welt” had also been granted access during the occupation — other media had not. Being informed in advance about such actions is “standard journalistic practice and not a criminal offence”, Doğru says.

Germany’s Foreign Office echoed the EU’s claim during a government press conference, stating that RED had been used by Russia for information manipulation. According to the ministry, this had been proven “through the close cooperation of almost all German security authorities”.

Administrative court provisionally ruled in favour of wife

For Doğru, the German government’s fixation raises fundamental questions: “about press freedom, about political interference in an EU sanctions regime — and about what it means when a state that considers itself democratic acts in this way against a journalist and his entire family environment”.

Earlier this year, Doğru’s wife had already been subject to account freezes. The responsible Central Office for Sanctions Enforcement had issued a “seizure order”, likewise claiming that Doğru “controls” those accounts.

Following an expedited procedure, this order was provisionally suspended in early April. The Administrative Court in Cologne found “no concrete indications” that Doğru controlled the accounts belonging to his wife or that she had made them available to him. The opposing party — the Central Office — did not appeal the ruling, making it final.

Subsistence minimum of €506

At the time, Doğru wrote that his three small children were “in a humanitarian emergency”. “We can’t receive money. We can’t pay rent. We can’t buy food.” The only exemption from the sanctions is a subsistence minimum of €506.

Since his listing in May 2025, Doğru has also been subject to an EU-wide entry and exit ban. It is currently impossible for him to engage in either self-employed or salaried work. Even accepting food or monetary donations could violate the sanctions, he said.

European Court of Justice to decide this summer

In July 2025, Doğru filed a lawsuit against the EU sanctions before the European Court of Justice, requesting their annulment. A decision is expected within the next two to three months, the journalist told nd. The court rejected an application for expedited proceedings.

Particularly noteworthy, he says, is the argumentation of the opposing side: “After we demonstrated that no evidence whatsoever exists for the alleged Russia connections, the EU’s defence essentially argued that it did not need to prove such connections. It would suffice that we could not prove they do not exist”, Doğru explains. This effectively amounts to a “reversal of the burden of proof”.

Petition criticises “political arbitrariness”

Doğru’s legal disputes are now being accompanied by an online petition. Under the hashtag “#freedogru”, the German government is being urged to vote in favour of lifting the sanctions in the Council of the EU. By Thursday, the initiative had gathered more than 6,500 signatures.

Among the initial signatories are former Bundestag members Sevim Dağdelen and Sahra Wagenknecht (both BSW), as well as Gregor Gysi (The Left). International support has come from Roger Waters, former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, former EU commissioner Günter Verheugen, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson and British musician Brian Eno.

The petition argues that Doğru “committed no criminal offence but became the victim of political arbitrariness”. The sanctions, it states, are “an attack on press freedom” and do not follow “rule-of-law principles”.

Published in German in „nd“.