Following the account freeze against Hüseyin Doğru, German authorities have now targeted his wife. The journalist and his family are facing a humanitarian crisis.
Raphael Schmeller is a journalist at Berliner Zeitung
Originally published in German by Berliner Zeitung
What began as a sanctions procedure against Berlin-based journalist Hüseyin Doğru has now developed into a humanitarian crisis for him and his family. After the journalist—who has been sanctioned by the EU since May 2025—was already largely cut off from financial transactions himself, the Central Office for Sanctions Enforcement (ZfS) has now also “secured” the bank accounts of his wife.
The authority, which belongs to the General Customs Directorate, takes the view, according to an order available to Berliner Zeitung, that the woman’s accounts were used to circumvent the sanctions imposed against Doğru.
Car insurance cited as justification for account closure
The letter refers to a “seizure pursuant to Section 3(1) of the Sanctions Enforcement Act (SanktDG).” Two accounts at Commerzbank are affected. Dispositions over existing balances as well as future incoming credits have been prohibited. The authority justifies the measure by stating that the funds in the wife’s accounts must be regarded as funds under the control of her husband.
To justify this, the Central Office refers, among other things, to a car insurance policy: after an existing policy was terminated due to the sanctions, Doğru’s wife concluded a new insurance policy for the shared car. The registered holder of the vehicle remains Doğru. The fact that she adopted his no-claims bonus rating is interpreted by the authority as an indication of sanctions circumvention.
In addition, according to the authority, there are family and economic interconnections. The order explicitly refers to the marriage as well as the three children they share. Furthermore, the ZfS argues that the concept of “control” should be interpreted broadly.
Another point in the reasoning concerns financial movements shortly after Doğru’s listing. According to the order, transfers from one of Doğru’s accounts to his wife’s account allegedly took place already one day after the sanctioning. According to the authority, this allows the conclusion that the transfers served the purpose of circumventing sanctions.
“Now no one can provide for our children”
The Central Office explicitly considers the seizure of the wife’s accounts to be “proportionate.” For the family, however, the measure is existentially threatening. Doğru told Berliner Zeitungthat the decision to deny his wife access to financial means does not merely push his family into a legal vacuum, but deliberately forces them into a humanitarian crisis.
“Currently, we have only 104 euros available for our three children and the two of us. Previously, I myself was not able to provide for my children. Now no one can provide for them.”
He accuses German authorities of systematically acting against his family.
“The federal government and its institutions have systematically selected us as a target: first me, then my wife, and now our toddlers and infants are affected. This decision deliberately endangers the welfare and health of our children,” he says. He argues that this contradicts not only international law, but also the German Basic Law, which guarantees the protection of children’s welfare.
The family is no longer able to pay rent, feed the children, or cover electricity costs. While the children could theoretically receive assistance, in practice there is a real risk that humanitarian support would be interpreted as circumvention of sanctions.
Doğru speaks of an escalation spiral. Everytime
e his case receives public attention, the measures are intensified. First, he says, the Foreign Office effectively denied him the status of journalist; subsequently, he was publicly discredited as a “disinformation actor.” This was followed by a criminalization of any support for his family; with the most recent decision, the welfare of the children is now being deliberately threatened.
“The aim of these measures is to break me and my family. The authorities are going so far as to knowingly endanger the health and well-being of infants,” says Doğru. “A possible next stage of escalation could consist of taking our children away from us—based on a situation created by the authorities themselves.”
His lawyer, Alexander Gorski, describes the seizure of the wife’s accounts as a new stage of repression. Speaking to Berliner Zeitung, he said:
“The administrative seizure of the accounts of Mr. Doğru’s wife represents an unprecedented escalation of repression against Mr. Doğru’s family. It is important to remember that Mr. Doğru is sanctioned, but now his family is also increasingly suffering the consequences. This repression violates the family’s human dignity and is unacceptable in a state governed by the rule of law.”
How drastic the effects are in everyday life had already become apparent in recent months. Doğru recently attempted, in urgent proceedings before the Frankfurt am Main District Court, to achieve that his bank, Comdirect, would once again allow transfers and reduce the restrictions on the use of his account. However, the court rejected the application. It found no so-called claim to an interim order and sided with the credit institution. According to the court’s view, Doğru had not credibly demonstrated an enforceable claim that the transfers he requested had to be released.
Although the German Federal Bank had allowed the journalist to use 506 euros per month for basic needs, according to the court payments beyond that amount were not covered. Doğru had not sufficiently demonstrated that the intended transfers—such as payments to service providers and debt collection agencies—served the satisfaction of basic needs. At the same time, the district court emphasized that banks are bound by directly applicable EU sanctions law and are not permitted to release frozen funds.
Already at that time, Doğru described the situation as existentially threatening. He said that ongoing contracts from the period before the sanctions—such as telecommunications, insurance, and other everyday obligations—could no longer be serviced because his bank refused every transfer. Payment reminders, debt collection proceedings, and rising costs were the result. With the approved 506 euros, it was impossible to provide for a family of five. There was a real danger of no longer being able to pay rent. As a sanctioned person, he effectively had no chance of concluding a new rental contract. He and his family faced the threat of homelessness, as he told this newspaper.
EU accuses Doğru of Russian propaganda
For Doğru and his family, this represents the latest escalation in proceedings that have been ongoing for months. The journalist has been on an EU sanctions list since May 2025. The European Union justifies this by stating that through his pro-Palestinian journalistic work, Doğru incites “ethnic, political and religious discord” and thereby supports “destabilizing activities of Russia.” Public evidence of a concrete connection to Moscow has not been presented to date.
Doğru rejects the allegations. He confirms that he previously worked for Redfish, a format financed by the Russian broadcaster Ruptly. In the course of the Russian attack on Ukraine, however, he ended the employment relationship.
“I have always criticized that it was an invasion of Ukraine,” he said already in November 2025 in a conversation with Berliner Zeitung.
Legally and politically, the case is highly explosive. In a legal opinion presented in the European Parliament in the autumn of last year, former judge at the European Court of Justice Ninon Colneric and international law scholar Alina Miron come to the conclusion that the measures represent profound infringements on fundamental rights.
The authors speak of a de facto “civil death”: assets are frozen, access to banking services is blocked, and economic capacity to act is almost completely paralyzed. Particularly problematic, they argue, is that sanctions are imposed without prior judicial review and that affected persons do not receive a hearing before their listing.
In addition, the legal scholars warn of a chilling effect on journalists as a whole. It remains unclear where the boundary lies between permissible reporting and sanctionable “information manipulation.” The EU sanctions therefore threaten press freedom.
Dagdelen: “We need an action platform against unlawful sanctions”
How far-reaching the consequences of the sanctions regime have become, according to the defense, was made clear by lawyer Gorski in an interview with Berliner Zeitung. The lawyer said that his client is not permitted to receive monetary donations and is also not allowed to accept food assistance. When asked whether a neighbor could already make himself liable to prosecution by bringing Doğru bread, Gorski answered:
“Yes, the neighbor would theoretically make himself liable to prosecution.”
BSW politician Sevim Dagdelen is now calling for broader political mobilization.
“Hüseyin Doğru and his family urgently need help,” she told Berliner Zeitung. The EU sanctions regime is totalitarian, and the German government must no longer support this inhumane madness.
“I invite all democrats to become active together here: we need an action platform against the unlawful sanctions in order to defend the rule of law, democracy, and humanity.”
Details will follow soon, according to Dagdelen.
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