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Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”9 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_custom_heading text=”Online outlet correspondent assaulted by politician” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]16 May 2019 — Oleg Baturin, New Day online outlet correspondent, was assaulted by a deputy of the Kherson regional council in Kahovka. The official blocked the journalist, grabbed his hands and threatened to cripple him.
Link(s): http://nikcenter.org/newsItem/50465
http://nk-online.com.ua/kahovskiy-zhurnalist-ne-hochet-stat-kalekoy-poetomu-obratilsya-v-politsiyu/
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalist assaulted by a government official in Kyiv” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]15 May 2019 — Volodymyr Tymofiychuk, 1+1 TV Channel correspondent, was assaulted by a government official in Kyiv. The official pushed the journalist, grabbed his clothes and hands.
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Editor-in-chief’s car set on fire” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
12 May 2019 — The editor-in-chief of TVi Channel Vladimir Yegorov said that his car was set on fire in Kyiv, the Ukrinform news agency reported.
“Today, at 4:30 am, my car was set on fire, I associate it with my professional activity,” Yegorov posted on Facebook. According to Yegorov’s version of events, arson is suspected because his neighbors heard the sound of an explosion before the car caught fire.
Ukraine’s National Police launched a criminal investigation under the “intentional destruction or damage to property” of the country’s criminal code. Yegorov said he would ask the police to reframe the case under the article “intentional destruction or damage to the property of the journalist”, according to Detector Media online outlet.
Sources:
https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-kyiv/2698400-golovnomu-redaktoru-telekanalu-spalili-avtivku.html
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2667278600009174&id=100001811816352
Categories: Attack to Property
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”TV crew assaulted by customs officers” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]9 May 2019 — Natalia Polishchuk, Maria Petruchyk and Vyacheslav Moroshko — journalists working for Avers TV channel — were assaulted by customs officers at the Yagodyn border crossing with Poland.
The journalists were investigating a large shipment of amber, which was alleged to have been smuggled to Poland through the Yagodyn customs station. They entered a restaurant where customs agents were attending a party and began asking questions about corruption and the amber smuggling. According to Avers, the officers who were present behaved aggressively and assaulted the journalists. One journalist’s finger was bruised and the crew’s camera was broken, 1+1 TV channel reported.
“Two men approached me, they started tugging at me, tore my jacket, hit the cameraman, hit the camera,” Polishchuk said. Petruchyk reported, “He wrestled my phone out of my hand, used brute force, my hand is damaged, he tore my journalist’s ID off me.” The officers also forcibly took the journalists’ driver’s licenses, car documents and bank cards. A customs officer told one of the journalists he would “bury her” the following day. The journalists managed to film a part of the incident.
The police have opened criminal proceedings on three articles. “It’s about interfering with the professional activities of journalists, robbery and causing intentional light bodily injuries,” Viktor Homol, spokesperson for the National Police in the Volyn region, said. The case is now being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigations.
Sources:
https://tsn.ua/ukrayina/zhurnalistiv-na-volini-pobili-mitniki-spravu-rozsliduye-dbr-1343535.html
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Attack to Property, Blocked Access
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalists assaulted during commemoration rally” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
9 May 2019 — Unidentified persons threw red paint on people during a commemorative march in the Dnipro city (Dnipropetrovsk). As a result of the attack, a journalist from Kryvyi Rih and the operator of the 34th TV channel were injured, Pervyy Krivorozhskiy TV channel reported.
The names of the journalists were not reported. The National Police confiscated items that were stained with paint. The journalists filed a complaint with the police, demanding the investigation to be opened under the article “obstructing the professional activities of journalists” of the criminal code of Ukraine. However, the police opened a case under the article “hooliganism”.
Sources:
https://1kr.ua/news-50606.html
https://imi.org.ua/news/u-dnipri-pid-chas-mitynhu-postrazhdala-znimal-na-hrupa-34-kanalu/
Categories: Attack to Property
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalist receives death threat after arson attack on her home” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
8 May 2019 — Nataliya Kamyshnikova, s journalist for the Radar local online news outlet in Novovolynsk city, was threatened with death, the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) reported. A week earlier, unknown persons set fire to the journalist’s house.
“Yesterday to my friend came close a woman under thirty – with dyed hair, in black glasses in the central market of the city of Novovolynsk. The woman firmly took her by the hand and said: Tell Kamyshnikova this was just the first warning. We will kill her, let her prepare a coffin,” the journalist wrote on Radar website.
On the night of May 1, two unidentified men set fire to a the house belonging to the journalist. Kamyshnikova claimed this had been done out of revenge for one of her articles.
According to IMI, the National Police began the criminal proceedings because of the threats to murder the journalist. Kamyshnikova said that in late January, an anonymous person on the internet threatened her with physical harassment. The journalist then complained to the police. She insisted on entering her case into the Uniform Register of Pre-trial Investigations and requested that criminal proceedings to be instituted. However, the police refused to open criminal proceedings.
Sources:
http://radar.in.ua/obitsyayut-ubyty-komu-zh-ya-tak-zavazhayu/
https://imi.org.ua/news/na-volyni-zhurnalisttsi-cherez-znayomu-peredaly-pohrozu-vbyvstvom/
https://imi.org.ua/news/politsiia-vidkryla-spravu-cherez-pohrozy-vbyvstvom-volyns-kiy-zhurnalisttsi/
Categories: Intimidation, Attack to Property
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalist assaulted in Odessa, had sewage poured at her” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]7 May 2019 — Svitlana Pidpala, activist, journalist and blogger, was assaulted in Odessa’s Summer Theater were she was filming a public event. An unidentified person poured a bucket of sewage on Pidpala. Her equipment was damaged.
Link(s): https://www.pravda.com.ua/rus/news/2019/05/7/7214411/
https://www.unn.com.ua/ru/news/1798498-v-odesi-aktivistku-oblili-fekaliyami-ta-nechistotami
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Attack to Property
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Attack to Property
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalist falls into coma after assault” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
4 May 2019 — An unidentified person armed with a hammer assaulted journalist and blogger Vadim Komarov in the center of Cherkasy, IMI reported.
According to the National Police, Komarov was walking down the street, when an assailant hit him in the head several times and severly injured him. After that, the attacker fled the scene. Casual passers-by found the badly wounded journalist and called an ambulance at about 9 am. Komarov was operated on the local hospital. According to the doctors quoted on a local online news outlet Procherk, Komarov received an open craniocerebral trauma. The operation lasted two hours after which the journalist fell into a coma.
The police is investigating the case under the criminal article “assassination attempt”.
Komarov is known for his investigation of corruption among city authorities. The journalist has already been assaulted in the past. On 7 September 2016, an unknown person shot at Komarov in Cherkasy, but the bullet hit the wall.
UPDATE:
20 June 2019 — Vadim Komarov died in the hospital without regaining consciousness, IMI reported.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his deep sorrow following the death of Komarov. “I am deeply shocked by the death of Vadim Komarov, who was brutally attacked last month in Cherkasy and suffered from serious head injuries,” Désir said. “Vadim Komarov was a well-known media professional who reported about issues of public importance for many years, including by exposing corruption and uncovering abuses of power.” “I strongly condemn this horrendous attack. Those responsible for this crime must be identified and face justice. I reiterate my call on the Ukrainian authorities to complete the investigation in a vigorous and swift manner. It is regrettable that about one-and-a-half months after the attack the law enforcement have not yet identified the perpetrators nor reported any progress on the investigation. Violence and attacks against journalists are unacceptable and must stop. Impunity would be a victory for those who wanted to silence Komarov and to intimidate the press. All OSCE participating States should take effective and resolute actions to prevent and end impunity for such crimes,” Désir said. “I send my sincere condolences to his family, colleagues and friends,” the Representative said.Head of the National Union of Journalists Serhiy Tomilenko said the cause of the murder was the Komarov’s journalistic work. “The murder of Vadim Komarov is a crime against all journalists in general,” Tomilenko said. Also, Tomilenko called journalists for solidarity, because this “topic is important for the survival of a journalist profession in Ukraine.”
Sources:
https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/423578
https://www.facebook.com/sergiy.tomilenko/posts/2237747729643412?__tn__=K-R
https://imi.org.ua/news/pomer-cherkas-kyy-zhurnalist-vadym-komarov/
https://imi.org.ua/news/u-cherkasakh-pobyly-zhurnalista-vadyma-komarova-vin-u-vazhkomu-stani/
http://procherk.info/news/7-cherkassy/72109-zhorstoko-pobito-cherkaskogo-zhurnalista
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Death/Killing
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Armed woman assaulted Odessa journalist” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]2 May 2019 — A retired woman armed with a knife tried to assault Olena Solomonova, Odessa.online correspondent, and knocked the phone out of her hands during a commemorative event in Odessa.
Link(s): https://odesa.depo.ua/rus/odesa/aktivisti-z-chervonimi-kulyami-potrolili-kulikovtsiv-20190502957301
https://imi.org.ua/news/v-odesi-na-zhurnalistku-napaly-z-nozhem-i23135
Categories: Attack to Property
Source of violation: Unknown[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1575992589423-00806ef6-3f10-4″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
