German journalist detained in Syria back home, lawyer says
Key takeaways
- Eva Maria Michelmann vanished in Syria in January as government forces advanced on Kurdish fighters in the northeast.
- Michelmann had gone missing during an offensive by Syrian government forces against Kurdish fighters in the northeast in January this year.
- According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), they both worked for the Istanbul-based socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA) and the Ozgur TV channel.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Eva Maria Michelmann vanished in Syria in January as government forces advanced on Kurdish fighters in the northeast. The German government last week said it was working to get her home.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Fj TYFor months it wasn't even clear where Michelmann was, except that she had vanished amid a Syrian military offensive in the predominantly Kurdish northeast [FILE: Apr 1, 2026]Image: Maria Castro/ZUMA/IMAGOAdvertisement German journalist Eva Maria Michelmann, who went missing early this year in Syria while reporting on the remnants of more than a decade of civil war, returned to Germany on Friday, her lawyer said.
"It can be confirmed that Eva M. Michelmann was released this morning and returned to Germany this afternoon," her lawyer Roland Meister told the AFP news agency, also making similar comments to other outlets.