Journalism isn’t a crime, but an indispensable service for society – particularly when it shines a critical and investigative spotlight on those in government. The decision taken against Can Dündar is a major setback to independent journalistic work in Turkey. Freedom of the press is a fundamental right and it should not come at the cost of extreme personal risk. This is, at any rate, not the rationale of the commitment to freedom of the press and freedom of opinion that Turkey entered into within the framework of the European Convention on Human Rights.