Cecilia Anesi (1987) studied Journalism and Social Sciences in London. During her studies, she developed a strong interest in investigative reporting on organized crime. After returning to Italy, she collaborated with freelance journalist Giulio Rubino and Belgian journalist Delphine Reuter to produce the documentary Toxic Europe, which investigated the illegal trade and smuggling of toxic waste across Europe. The documentary earned her an invitation to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kyiv. Inspired by The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and nonprofit investigative journalism organizations, she went on to establish her own nonprofit organization, IRPI, the first of its kind in Italy.
Laureate Difference Day Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression 2025
Cecilia Anesi is an Italian journalist and co-founder of the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI). The Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, herself a former journalist, approved a new law introducing dozens of new criminal offenses, mainly aimed at limiting peaceful protests. Meloni also seeks to increase penalties against investigative journalists, including prison sentences.
Receiving the Honorary Title gives Cecilia Anesi energy and hope, serving as the push IRPI needs to continue its work in difficult times. Today, the press is literally under fire: more than 200 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza. In Ukraine and Mexico, journalists are murdered even outside official war zones. In the past decade alone, four journalists were killed in the EU: Daphne Caruana Galizia, Jan Kuciak, Giorgos Karaivaz, and Peter R. de Vries. Anesi accepted the Honorary Title in the shadow of their sacrifices, with a sense of urgency and responsibility, knowing that journalism is essential to democracy and that its freedom can no longer be taken for granted.
IRPI was founded in 2012 to report on Italian organized crime: Cosa Nostra, Camorra, and the ’Ndrangheta. Their investigations soon extended abroad, uncovering links between Italian and foreign mafias—from Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where the ’Ndrangheta outsourced port control to Albanians and the so-called Mocro-mafia, to Athens and Malta, where smugglers and shipowners built modern piracy networks. These are the same locations where Daphne Caruana Galizia, Jan Kuciak, Giorgos Karaivaz, and Peter R. de Vries carried out their work and were murdered. In Europe, many thought the worst of the violence had ended with the murders of judges Falcone and Borsellino in the 1990s, and before them journalists like Peppino Impastato. But the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia marked the beginning of a new, dark era for civil society. At that point, Cecilia Anesi realized the only solution was to continue Daphne’s work. IRPI joined the Daphne Project, an international consortium that took up her torch. A year later, Jan Kuciak was killed. Under the coordination of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), IRPI had worked with Jan and Pavla Holcová for over a year on two major investigations: one into a Calabria-based mafia family laundering cocaine money in Slovakia, and another, more dangerous investigation into the ’Ndrangheta, directly connected to then-Prime Minister Robert Fico.
OCCRP was about to publish the latter investigation when Jan was shot. At that moment, Anesi was in Sicily reporting for the Daphne Project. There she met veteran journalist Franco Castaldo, who was more than a mentor to her. Castaldo is a forgotten victim of unfree press: after exposing corruption, he was denied access to his newsroom and to write for twenty years. With his remaining salary, he founded an independent media outlet in Agrigento, Sicily, Grandangolo, reporting on dozens of mafia murders. He lived under police protection for years, and when IRPI members also received protection, he helped them cope. Anesi realized that press freedom comes at a price, sometimes even your own freedom. Yet they continued doing the only thing they could: investigating and reporting—for Jan, for Daphne, and above all, for European citizens, who have a right to the truth.
Sometimes they acted even when it was forbidden. For instance, in 2022, IRPI participated in the Suisse Secrets investigation, which exposed how Swiss banks helped hide public wealth and illicit funds. Since then, they have avoided Switzerland, where they risk arrest under bank secrecy laws. Just weeks ago, after publishing another investigation with Paper Trail Media, OCCRP, and Le Monde into a Swiss bank, they were charged under Article 47 of the Swiss banking law, one of the strictest secrecy laws in the world. The law criminalizes the disclosure of banking data—even from whistleblowers—with up to five years in prison. A few days after the charges, the complaint was withdrawn, but Anesi expects new legal challenges. This is the paradox of today’s European democracy: journalists acting in the public interest can face both intimidation and criminal prosecution.
Despite threats, SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation) across multiple jurisdictions, and ongoing financial uncertainty, Anesi remains hopeful. “IRPI’s newsroom is full of young, dedicated reporters—they are our true source of strength. Recognitions like those from VUB and ULB remind them never to stop reporting and that they are not alone.”
Sources: Acceptance Speech 2025, VUB Today interview.
