15 Oct 2019 | Ukraine, Ukraine Incident Reports
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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_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”10 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]
Cameraman assaulted with pepper spray

Channel 7 cameraman was pepper sprayed while reporting
30 September 2019 – Andriy Kulba, a cameraman for Channel 7, was reporting on a domestic incident, involving a young child, in Odessa when he was assaulted with pepper spray. Paramedics who were called provided Kulba with first aid and he was taken to the burn department of a local hospital. Both of his forearms, as well as his neck, face and eyes were injured in the assault.
Link(s): http://nsju.org/index.php/article/view/8237
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury
Source of violation: Known private individual(s)
Journalist threatened with a gun
26 September 2019 – Video blogger Andriy Pylypovych was shooting a story on illegal construction in the city of New Kakhovka (Kherson region), when he was threatened with a pistol by a builder on the site.
“I was shooting a story for my video blog [on YouTube], and as a freelance correspondent for the newspapers Dniprovsky Prospect and Chas. We perceived the threat of “firing” at us as a joke until the builder pulled a gun out of the car,” Pylypovych told the Institute for Mass Information representative.
No one was injured and the police have opened a criminal investigation.
Link(s): https://imi.org.ua/news/u-novij-kahovtsi-budivelnyk-pogrozhuvav-zhurnalistu-pistoletom-i29813
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArqrcoibdJQ
https://hr.npu.gov.ua/news/virok-sudu/zhitel-novoji-kaxovki-pidozryujetsya-v-pogrozhuvanni-misczevomu-zhurnalistu/?fbclid=IwAR2lq2XpANB1rGJDjkpAEZb4fVtPr0m-fnQHFvAyWErtL5G_5GPonb-60Qw
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury
Source of violation: Unknown
National Council on television to revoke licenses for TV channel
26 September 2019 – The Ukrainian National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting made a decision not to extend broadcasting licence of 112 Ukraine TV channel, which is available in five Ukrainian regions, including Donbass, TASS reported.
A spokesman for the regulator, Serhiy Kostinsky, said that 112 Ukraine TV channel’s request to extend their licence would be denied. All members of the committee have backed this decision.
On 30 September, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, expressed his concern today over the decision taken by the media regulator, the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, not to renew the digital terrestrial broadcasting licenses of five regional television companies.
“I hope that the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine will find a solution to preserve pluralism in the media environment,” said Désir. “It is important to ensure diversity in the broadcasting, while fully respecting the legal requirements, and balancing any regulatory decisions with access to pluralistic media.”
Link(s):
https://tass.com/society/1080001
https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/national-council-ruling-on-112-ukraines-ending-license-for-appealed-by-5-tv-companies-with-its-logo.html
https://112.international/society/revoking-digital-broadcasting-license-from-the-112-ukraine-tv-channel-is-political-lynching-opposition-platform-for-life-party-43954.html
https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/434201
https://imi.org.ua/en/news/five-companies-broadcasting-under-logo-112-ukraina-appealed-against-national-council-s-decision-i29836
Categories: Legal Measures
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Journalists pushed and shoved by president’s press secretary

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s spokesperson, Yulia Mendel, shoves reporter Serhiy Andrushko to prevent him from asking questions
26 September 2019 – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and UA:Pershyi correspondent, Serhiy Andrushko, was repeatedly pushed back by presidential press secretary Yulia Mendel, as he tried to approach the Head of the President’s Office and President Zelenskiy to ask them questions.
A video of the incident shows Mendel repeatedly shoving Serhiy Andrushko as he tries to approach the two men. The Head of the President’s Office, Andriy Bohdan, approaching the journalist and told him: “I do not communicate with representatives of the media, which deceive society and don’t adhere to journalistic standards. This is my final point.”
RFE/RL’s Kyiv correspondent Christopher Miller said he had encountered Mendel’s confrontational approach at a conference in Kyiv on 13 September. According to Miller, Mendel shoved him aside while he was talking to Zelenskiy at the conference.
On September 28 the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine demanded apology from Presidential Office for Mendel’s behaviour. “The press secretary of the president has no right to physically interfere in the work of journalists,” the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine head Serhiy Tomilenko said on Facebook.
Link(s): https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=external&v=389325218429171
https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2019/09/27/7227517/
https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2019/09/27/7227495/
https://www.facebook.com/mixailotkach/posts/2426832120719629
https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/schemes/30184985.html
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-journalist-union-demands-apology-from-presidential-office/30189675.html
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Blocked Access
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Journalist received threats in SMS messages
23 September 2019 – KyivPost journalist, Anna Myronyuk, received a text message from pro-Russian fighters from the occupied areas of the Luhansk region saying that she could be be given up to 10 years to life imprisonment for alleged “genocide and prohibited means / methods of war”.
She was the third KyivPost journalist to have received such messages after sending their documents to the Joint Forces Operations press centre about three weeks ago. She wrote on Facebook: “I have reason to believe that there was another leak of the data of journalists who have applied for accreditation to work in the combat zone or the Joint Forces Operations zone. Colleagues from other media who did not apply for accreditation during this period did not receive such threats. I will be happy to be incorrect, but so far everything looks different – that it is not becoming safer to work as a journalist in Ukraine”.
Olga Rudenko, KyivPost deputy editor-in-chief, said that SMS messages were received by journalists who had not yet travelled to the Joint Forces Operation zone. British journalist Reece Lynch is also reported to have been threatened.
Link(s):
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2514082801990506&set=a.794967737235363&type=3&theater
https://detector.media/community/article/170996/2019-09-24-zhurnalisti-kyiv-post-poskarzhilisya-na-pogrozi-z-boku-boiovikiv-orlo-pripustivshi-vitik-danikh/
Categories: Intimidation, Offline Defamation/Discredit/Harassment/Verbal Abuse
Source of violation: Unknown
Online news outlet journalist assaulted by local deputy
23 September 2019 – KNK-media journalist Alexander Vlasov was assaulted by Kherson region council deputy, Yevhen Ryshchuk, in the village of Pravi Sahy village.
The assault on the journalist occurred at night, during the village celebrations in the local House of Culture. According to Institute for Mass Information, Ryshchuk hit the journalist on the head and in the shoulder and then took his phone, breaking it.
The police opened a criminal investigation under the article “intentional slight bodily injury.”
Link(s): https://hr.npu.gov.ua/news/novini/policziya-z-yasovuje-obstavini-konfliktu-v-oleshkivskomu-rajoni/
https://knk.media/zhurnalisty/25-aleksandr-vlasov.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tz9LlmoNIM
https://imi.org.ua/news/politsiya-vidkryla-spravu-za-171-statteyu-cherez-pereshkodzhannya-zhurnalistu-i29717
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Attack to Property
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
TV journalist assaulted by car driver
6 September 2019 – Journalist Kateryna Kolgan of 2+2 TV’s DjeDAI (ДжеДАІ) program was assaulted by a motorist in Kyiv, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine reported.
Kolgan posted on Facebook that the program crew was filming a story about violators of traffic rules in the urban district of Borshchagovka. According to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, one of the drivers who Kolgan approached for interview, punched her from his car. In doing so, he knocked her mobile phone from her hand and drove over it.
The journalist was not injured but the phone was damaged as a result of the incident. “I’m glad that only the mobile phone was broken – and not my leg. The car came very close to my foot,” Kolgan wrote.
The journalist contacted the police, saying that she has a video, which shows both the driver and the car number.
Link(s): https://www.facebook.com/katyha.kolgan/posts/1961707133931875
https://imi.org.ua/news/u-kyyevi-pid-chas-zjomok-vodij-napav-na-zhurnalistku-2-2-i29449
http://nsju.org/index.php/article/view/8198
https://detector.media/community/article/170537/2019-09-06-u-kievi-na-zhurnalistku-22-napali-pid-chas-ziomok-syuzhetu-politsiya-vidkrila-provadzhennya/
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Attack to Property
Source of violation: Unknown
National TV Council to file lawsuit to revoke NewsOne television’s license
5 September 2019 – The Ukrainian National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council has accused the News 24 Hours TV channel of inciting ethical, racial, and religious strife, noting that it is going to file a lawsuit to deprive the TV channel of its license, the KyivPost reported.
The council said that it recorded violations during News 24 Hours’ unscheduled inspection of the TV station in July, which came about as a result of NewsOne TV’s (which is owned by News 24 Hours) intentions to hold a TV link-up with the Russia-1 TV channel on 8 July.
Reading out the council’s decision, Herasymiuk accused the TV channel of “inciting ethnic, racial, or religious animosity or hostility in statements that were made live on the News 24 Hours TV channel between June 6, 2019, and July 8, 2019”.
In a statement on its website, NewsOne said that the National Council’s decision is based on multiple violations of the law that have taken place before and during the inspection of the TV channel. “The National Council blatantly and cynically displayed the negligence of legal procedures and put a rude pressure on its employees in order to ruin the independent TV channel,” NewsOne said in the statement.
Link(s): https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/ukrainian-national-tv-council-to-file-lawsuit-to-revoke-newsone-televisions-license.html
https://newsone.ua/news/society/newsone-obratilsja-k-mezhdunarodnomu-soobshchestvu-v-svjazi-s-resheniem-natssoveta.html
https://interfax.com.ua/news/telecom/611492.html
Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Reporters received death threats
5 September 2019 – Bellingcat journalist Oleksiy Kuzmenko received an anonymous e-mail containing a link to the video and death threats after he tweeted about a far-right festival held in Kyiv by the Azov movement. He received other insults and threats by various far-right groups.
Since Bellingcat published an article on the translation of the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto in mid-August 2019, Michael Colborne and Oleksiy Kuzmenko have been consistently harassed and threatened online.
In August, a threatening video appeared on a far-right Telegram channel that promotes the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto. The video featured the photographs of Michael Colborne, Oleksiy Kuzmenko and fellow journalists Dmitry Gordon and Valerie Kipnis, being shot one by one with a firearm. It was posted with the following message: “This video is kind of an instruction manual on how to deal with our enemies.” Michael Colborne’s photograph showed him as he was beaten up while covering an anti-LGBT rally in Kyiv last November.
Link(s):
https://go.coe.int/SRWnu
https://twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1169306250087161858
https://tsn.ua/ukrayina/rozsliduvachi-bellingcat-zayavili-pro-pogrozi-vbivstvom-z-boku-ukrayinskih-pravoradikaliv-1405953.html
Categories: Intimidation, Online Defamation/Discredit/Harassment/Verbal Abuse
Source of violation: Unknown
City council deputy grabs audio recorder from journalist
3 September 2019 — Halyna Nazarova, journalist for Energetik newspaper, was assaulted by city council deputy, Anatoliy Tolkach, during a city council meeting in the Mykolaiv region.
Nazarova told the Institute for Mass Information that she was sitting near Tolkach at a meeting and placed the audio recorder on the table. Tolkach grabbed the recorder and put it in his pocket, saying that she was not allowed to record him. He ignored her requests to give her back the recorder.
The journalist then began using her phone to record, but the deputy grabbed her phone and threw it. Describing the incident, she said, “He took the recorder, so I turned on the recorder on my mobile phone. I put it on the table. He picked up the phone and tossed it on the floor. He shouted to us that ‘your place is in the corner, get in the corner and write from there’.”
As a result, the meeting was suspended and the journalist called the police. The police launched an investigation under the article “Obstruction of the legal professional activity of journalists.”
Link(s): https://imi.org.ua/news/na-mykolayivshhyni-deputat-vidibrav-u-zhurnalistky-dyktofon-na-zasidanni-komisiyi-i29705
Categories: Physical Assault/Injury, Attack to Property
Source of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1571144646302-3b13becb-cfa4-6″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
28 Sep 2019 | Russia, Russia Incident Reports
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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_custom_heading text=”14 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Kostroma photographer detained and asked to admit to terrorism
28 September – Alexey Molotorenko, photographer with the regional media outlet 7×7, was detained by the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia), when he was taking photos outside the Rosgvardia building, 7×7 reported.
Molotorenko was approached by a several Rosgvardia officers, who demanded that he delete the photos. When he refused to do so, they reportedly grabbed him and took him into the headquarters, where they confiscated his phone and searched his bag.
Four officers, including one from anti-extremism section of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, questioned the reporter for four hours, demanding that he admit involvement in terrorist activities. According to Molotorenko, they threatened to “cause problems” for his family if he didn’t plead guilty. The journalist was taken to a local police department and subsequently released without charge. 7×7 called the incident unacceptable obstruction of journalistic activities and sent complaints to the police and Rosgvardia.
Links:
https://7×7-journal.ru/articles/2019/09/28/v-kostrome-fotokorrespondenta-7h7-alekseya-molotorenko-zaderzhali-za-semku-vorot-chasti-rosgvardii?fbclid=IwAR1vX3xFjnngwgWi708AxOehxzrV_KcvlPh_mkNBjZ8530HDEjgwxpKYQIM
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Intimidation
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security
Associated Press reporter threatened after interview with the head of the Central Election Committee
26 September – Natalia Vasilieva, a reporter with international news agency Associated Press, said she received threats from the Central Election Committee after interviewing its head Ella Pamfilova about the Moscow city parliament election that took place in August, which were met with mass protests against the disqualification of independent candidates, news agency Zakon reported.
After the interview was published at the end of August, the Central Election Committee accused Vasilieva of twisting Pamfilova’s words and called the article “propaganda”. According to Vasilieva, the deputy head of the Central Election Committee told her boss that Natalia would never have a career and would not be allowed back to Central Election Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the Kremlin.
Links:
https://twitter.com/zakon_agency/status/1177143388354879488
https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/09/26/korrespondent-associated-press-rasskazala-ob-ugrozah-ot-cik-posle-intervyu-s?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR24ysh4BEtIc976NA5aoyg31I2tWed-nuUz8rBWnVcoLaDULIY5XVxUqkA
Categories: Intimidation
Source(s) of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Head of Petrozavodsk prison threatened to sue Zona.Media over an article about the torture of detainees
26 September – Ivan Savelev, head of Petrozavodak jail №9, threatened to sue Zona.Media over a piece they published about detainees being tortured, Zona.Media reported.
The article, which was published on 24 September, contained interviews with former detainees about torture they endured at the hands of Ivan Savelev.
Savelev says that he plans to sue the website, the journalist, and the former detainees that were cited for defamation. Savelev says he sent a complaint to the Investigative Committee regarding damage to his professional reputation.
Links:
https://zona.media/news/2019/09/26/nine?fbclid=IwAR2e7u0UDUZcFUo3D5tOsaBQlUj1vfycdY_ShVaT9-3K60fr55roHQmlSvI
Categories: Intimidation
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
“Young Journalists of Altai region” fined for 20-year old hyperlink
25 September – Justice of the Peace of Zheleznodorozhny district court fined the Young Journalists of Altai Region 50,000 rubles ($778) for a 1999 hyperlink to the Open Society Foundation website, Zona.Media reported. George Soros’ OSF was deemed “an undesirable organization” by the Russian government in 2017.
“We forgot that we had it [the link] among the volume of information. But vigilant officials found it,” Sergey Kanarev the head of Young Journalists of Altai Region said.
Links:
https://zona.media/news/2019/09/25/srs1999?fbclid=IwAR17oT7kLDt0ttM69DMuqpDi9FJoJ0VxPrCnqPVEyfsIf29QZUpVrixm85c
https://www.facebook.com/skanarev/posts/10212743590503246
https://tayga.info/149030
Categories: Legal Measures
Source(s) of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Izvestia newspaper removed article criticizing Defence Minister
24 September – A daily newspaper Izvestia, which belongs to the state-owned National Media Group, removed from its website the op-ed “The achievements of Sergey Shoigu as Defense Minister” by the military reporter Ilya Kramnik, who described the incident in a Facebook post.
Referring to an interview by the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets with the Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, Kramnik wrote that it’s unlikely to be correct that the recovery of the Russian army was due to the appointment of Shoigu, since its reform was initiated by the previous minister. Kramnik also wrote that the defence ministry has taken more of a propagandist line since Shoigu’s appointment.
Kramnik reportedly said that he didn’t know the specific reasons behind the removal of the article but that some kind of administrative pressure was involved. The newspaper’s press service allegedly accused Kramnik of violating corporate standards and said that the article was deleted because it didn’t align with editorial standards. The newspaper said that the decision was made by the editorial board, which considered the material to be insufficiently developed with too many of Kramnik’s views rather than facts. Kramnik said that he didn’t receive any comments about the article until it was published. Kramnik is reportedly no longer working for the publication.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/i.kramnik/posts/2371375439597846
https://www.svoboda.org/a/30183529.html
https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-49838990
Categories: Censorship
Source(s) of violation: Employer/Publisher/Colleague(s)
Pskov journalist Svetlana Prokopeva officially charged with justifying terrorism
20 September – Radio Svoboda reported that Svetlana Prokopeva, a Pskov-based independent journalist, was officially charged with justifying terrorism for discussing whether the planting of a bomb by a 17-year-old student at a Federal Security Service headquarters last year was provoked by a repressive political regime. The journalist pleads not guilty. Her lawyers called the charges absurd.
Links:
https://www.svoboda.org/a/30175507.html
https://ifex.org/russia-journalist-svetlana-prokopyeva-faces-seven-years-in-jail-on-justifying-terrorism-charge/
Categories: Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security, Court/Judicial
Local journalist detained ahead of president visit to Izhevsk
19 September – Dariya Komarova, a reporter from Idel Real was detained in Izhevsk ahead of President Putin’s visit to the city, Idel Real reported. Policemen detained the journalist while she was taking photos of residents passing through security check-point to get to the main square. Komarova was released shortly afterwards, but was told that the police would be watching and checking her.
Links:
https://www.idelreal.org/a/30173086.html
https://zona.media/news/2019/09/19/zaderzhali?fbclid=IwAR2u6lx_dXM5RcV4OVSxlgn0GiTm0LkcIBW2GpeaCTRtfBm5OTyQbCUb5zM
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation, Intimidation
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security
Senator accused Proekt.Media’s founder of graduating from “CIA school”
16 September – According to the media outlet Lenizdat, Andrey Klimov, the head of Federation Council’s Commission on Sovereignty Protection, accused the founder and editor-in-chief of investigative online outlet Proekt.Media, Roman Badanin, of studying in a “private intelligence school”, that prepares “anti-Russian journalists”. Klimov called Stanford University, where Badanin studied in 2017, a “CIA school”.
Links:
https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1156256/?fbclid=IwAR0_R7Ul8Wp22kMrPnAFdXWwuA_M3A-IbYsJ53dhIdkYBvddgEpceWLF9nc
Categories: Online Defamation/Discredit/Harassment/Verbal Abuse
Source(s) of violation: Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party
Student media reporter detained in Moscow at rally in support of political prisoner

Prior to his arrest in August, Yegor Zhukov had urged people not to be cowed into silence. He had been participating in the protests.
14 September – Tatyana Kolobakina, reporter with the student media outlet DOXA, was detained in Moscow at a student rally in support of political prisoner and fellow student, Zona.Media reported. Kolobakina was detained alongside two rally participants, who were dressed in T-shirts with slogans “Freedom to Zhukov”. Kolobakina has a similar sticker on her bag. All the detainees were released briefly without any charges and were told that they had been mistakenly detained while police were checking “info about some organization”.
Links:
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4094194
https://ovdinfo.org/express-news/2019/09/14/na-parade-moskovskogo-studenchestva-zaderzhali-dvuh-studentov-i?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=share&fbclid=IwAR0Amm0Ai9DarRmc8-pqVgqvSrZ5FQVP-p40vlUsJhWU2HSY20GdbJ4RDuA
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security
St-Petersburg journalist targeted by media outlets allegedly tied to “troll factory”
12 September – Mariya Karpenko, a former Fontanka reporter who was fired in March because of her personal Telegram-account on Saint Petersburg politics, became a target of several defamation articles, Lenizdat reported.
According to reports, the articles may be linked to Evgeny Prigozhin’s “media factory”, which publishes almost identical pro-government articles and targets independents journalists and opposition activists.
Links:
https://lenizdat.ru/articles/1156242/?fbclid=IwAR1N60ZuAzpTBNth5ynq_ctmCv1PL6K94RWCvfry99GJnqMYuqMkU1kZCU4
https://www.svoboda.org/a/29830046.html
https://primechaniya.ru/sankt-peterburg/novosti/avtora-rassledovaniya-o-finansirovanii-vybornoj-kampanii-beglova-nachali-travit-v-smi
Categories: Online Defamation/Discredit/Harassment/Verbal Abuse
Source(s) of violation: Another media

Dozhd CEO Natalia Sindeeva was summoned for questioning in September.
Dozhd CEO questioned over funding received during the July protests
10 September – CEO of independent broadcaster Dozhd, Natalia Sindeeva, was summoned for questioning related to funding Dozhd received during the July protests, Sindeeva said in Facebook post. During the protests in late July the broadcaster lifted the paywall and encouraged viewers to donate money.
Links:
https://www.newsru.com/russia/10sep2019/sind_dopros.html?utm_source=share&fbclid=IwAR1264qd3E9ksE4Prq3_7dw9fSRCP0hvF5UqMs9W8HEKngaX5LAF6BvXu_c
https://zona.media/news/2019/09/09/sindeeva?fbclid=IwAR2cA7MskqAUB5vuVXgWRKrtx6DA4FHmnLwY6hSVySzYm6EIpOXmVo10PEs
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security
Bus with journalists attacked in Tuva
7 September – A bus with journalists and observers, that were going to monitor and report on the local elections, was attacked with a gun fire at the border of Krasnoyarsk region and Tuva republic, local deputy Sergey Natarov said in his Facebook.
Witnesses say the bus was attacked by a group of around 10 gunned men.
The police said that nobody was injured and said that only the front wheels of the bus were damaged.
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1369336403228476&set=a.405289099633216&type=3
https://www.svoboda.org/a/30152508.html?fbclid=IwAR0LyiXDB0NzNxtrvL1TZXlcaYqO1pToUXTSVOBbOwGkr9dUXY2RbZyfwt8
https://www.sibreal.org/a/30152426.html
https://t.me/pdmnews/20352
Categories: Intimidation
Source(s) of violation: Unknown
At least 3 journalists detained in Moscow before rally in support of political prisoners
8 September – Journalists Ilya Azar and Natalia Ivleva were detained in the centre of Moscow before the rally in support of political prisoners, MBH Media reported. Later MBH Media reported that journalist Maxim Kondratyev was also detained.
Links:
https://tvrain.ru/news/v_moskve_zaderzhali_zhurnalista_ilju_azara-493121/?fbclid=IwAR3kKIRLIm87drmSxftigXAff_sB0wrcuT6ap0tyoHuvRI6u3LCZOCr5frY
https://t.me/mbkhmedia/13378
https://www.mk.ru/politics/2019/09/08/v-moskve-zaderzhany-aktivisty-zhurnalisty-sredi-nikh-ilya-azar.html
Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation
Source(s) of violation: Police/State security
Fly Auto sues Dozhd for 1 billion roubles
5 September – A car rental firm Fly Auto filed a 1 billion roubles ($15,300 millions) lawsuit against independent broadcaster Dozhd, Navalny said in his Twitter.
According to court documents, the lawsuit was registered on 5 September. Fly Auto accuse Dozhd of organising mass protest against the disqualification of independent candidates for local elections, that as the company claims, resulted in billion damage due to cancelled orders for car rentals, disrupted services and protesters damaging cars.
Update:
15 November – Arbitration court of Moscow dismissed the lawsuit against Dozhd TV channel, quoting lack of proof in the documents provided by the company.
Links:
https://zona.media/news/2019/09/05/flaj_avto?fbclid=IwAR1ye8yqjas57ArvgRe1uUhVF8XXX5Gd3voBuNOyfdRaV-empq0YV2VcZp0
https://www.novayagazeta.ru/news/2019/09/05/155024-kompaniya-po-prokatu-avtomobiley-podala-isk-k-fbk-i-dozhdyu-na-milliard-rubleyhttps://
www.kasparov.ru/material.php?id=5DCEA674AD5BE
Categories: Subpoena / Court Order/ Lawsuits
Source(s) of violation: Corporation/Company[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1574958188379-c9ec03b6-f725-9″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
18 Sep 2019 | Campaigns -- Featured, Media Freedom, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]To: Marija Pejčinović Burić
Secretary-General
Council of Europe
Dear Secretary-General,
On behalf of the undersigned organisations, we warmly congratulate you on your appointment as the new Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. We are motivated by our experience and understanding of the worsening of the environment for journalists and free expression across Europe to ask you to make sure that your commitment to democracy, the rule of law and human rights will be reflected in enhanced efforts for the effective protection of freedom of expression, press freedom and the safety of journalists, backed up by robust measures and strong and consistent statements and actions by yourself as Secretary-General.
Media freedom and media pluralism must be given a clear and consistent priority across the Council of Europe area, as they enable the public to make informed choices about their government and society, and are thus prerequisites for the full enjoyment of all other rights.
Renewed and determined efforts to achieve Member States’ compliance with the Council of Europe’s conventions, recommendations and other texts, as well as the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are vital in these times of rising threats against journalists and press freedom throughout Europe. The environment for media freedom has worsened significantly, as was documented in the Annual Report published by the partner organisations of the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists. We see extremely worrying developments in Azerbaijan, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere.
Regarding the Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, we urge you to provide all necessary means and support available to ensure that Member States respond concretely to alerts, intensify the dialogue and follow-up moves to provide redress, and to do everything possible to gain the active cooperation of those Member States which have failed to reply to alerts that highlight shortcomings or abuses on the part of state authorities. We ask you to establish a monthly exchange at the level of the Committee of Ministers to allow for a meaningful discussion on the progress of Member States in dealing with the alerts and persistent and serious threats to media freedom and the safety of journalists and other media actors.
In view of the well-documented increase in attacks on the media and backsliding in some states’ fulfilment of their commitments, we request you to prioritise actions and policies to implement Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 of the Committee of Ministers on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors – including specific measures to comply with Council of Europe standards on Protection; Prevention of attacks; and Prosecution of crimes against journalists.
We hope that the concerns and recommendations outlined in the Platform partners’ latest report will be given priority by the Secretariat under your leadership, and through the projects and activities foreseen in the bi-annual Council of Europe programme and budget. To address these concerns, we request you to make available the resources and support needed to give it greater visibility, recognition and impact – both internally and externally to the Council of Europe.
We are convinced that strong and concerted political action from Member States and the Council of Europe is now essential. We request your energetic support against the ongoing impunity for attacks including murders of journalists within Europe, and against widespread attempts to adopt severely restrictive legislation on media regulation, defamation, anti-terrorism that are increasingly used to criminalise journalists.
Anti-media rhetoric is creating a toxic atmosphere for journalists amongst the general public and must be countered. The spread of online disinformation intensifies this effect. We welcome the recent PACE resolution on the rule of law in Malta, which points to the urgent need for effective actions against the politicisation of state institutions, media capture by political forces, and a climate of impunity related to attacks against members of the media.
We call on you to provide your full political support, and necessary resources, to ensure the successful implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4, as is specified in the 2018 Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) strategy 2018. It is especially important to us that robust and frank debate on the subject of implementation (including securing firm commitments to national action plans) takes place at the Conference of Ministers responsible for media and information society in Cyprus in May 2020, with the full participation of civil society to pave the way for meaningful actions to reverse the recent negative trends.
We call on you to use your influence on Member States to reform their domestic laws and practices so that they comply with their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and CM Recommendation (2016)4, and do everything in your power to improve the safety of journalists through the establishment of effective safeguards.
We thank Thorbjørn Jagland for his efforts in the past years and we are happy to continue to support the Council of Europe with our research and our international networks.
We request a meeting with you soon to discuss these matters in person and to share our knowledge and experience with you as you begin your term of office.
We look forward to your positive response.
Yours sincerely,
Lutz Kinkel, Managing Director, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia, ARTICLE 19
William Horsley, Special Representative for Media Freedom, Association of European Journalists (AEJ)
Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Daniel Gorman, Director, English PEN
Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary, European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Leon Willems, Director of Policy and Programmes, Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
Ralf Nestmeyer, Vice-President, German PEN
Bertrand Pecquerie, CEO, Global Editors Network (GEN)
Annie Game, Executive Director, IFEX
Joy Hyvarinen, Head of Advocacy, Index on Censorship
Anthony Bellanger, General Secretary, International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
Ravi R. Prasad, Director of Advocacy, International Press Institute (IPI)
Ides Debruyne, Managing Director, Journalismfund.eu vzw
Hege Newth, Secretary General, Norwegian PEN
Chiara Sighele, Programme Director, Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT/CCI)
Alberto Spampinato, Director, Ossigeno per l’informazione
Aaliya Ahmed, International Programmes Director, PEN International
Christophe Deloire, Secretary General, Reporters without Borders (RSF)
Oliver Vujovic, Secretary General, South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Clothilde Redfern, Director, The Rory Peck Trust
Andrew Heslop, Director, World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1568796322393-650d0cd0-526d-5″ taxonomies=”6534″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
18 Sep 2019 | Belarus, Monitoring and Advocating Coverage, News and features
On the surface, Belarus is one of the quieter places for journalists – one rarely hears about gruesome violations, physical assaults or murders of media workers in this post-Soviet country. But a lack of horror stories does not mean there is a liberal policy towards the media. In 2017, Belarus scored 83 points out of 100 (100 indicating the least free) in the Freedom of the Press rating compiled by Freedom House, and in 2018 it was ranked 153rd out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
In a country where most media outlets are state-owned, one of the most common ways of interfering with journalism is the legislation banning foreign media workers and outlets from reporting without state accreditation – Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code. In 2018, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) recorded 118 fines imposed on freelance journalists collaborating with foreign media without accreditation, totalling €43,000.
No outlet faced the consequences of this policy like Belsat TV.
Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project documents, analyses, and publicises threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, in order to identify opportunities for advancing media freedom in these countries. The project collects, analyses and publicises limitations, threats and violations that affect journalists as they do their jobs. Its staff also advocate for greater press freedom in these countries and raises alerts at the international level. The project builds on Index on Censorship’s 4.5 years monitoring media freedom in 43 European countries, as part of Mapping Media Freedom platform.
The curious case of Belsat TV
“In the spring of 2017, Belsat TV contributors have been repeatedly arrested, tried and heavily fined for covering the protests. The total amount of fines reached $9,000. In addition, our journalists spent more than 30 days in prison,” states the channel’s website.
The tensions between the office of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and the Poland-based, Belarus-centred Belsat TV date back to its founding in 2007. Lukashenko had called it a “stupid, uncongenial and unfriendly project” even before it launched. The independent media outlet is sponsored by the Polish government, and is owned by public broadcasting corporation Telewizja Polska.
As the channel’s website outlines: “Its original content is prepared by more than 100 associates from all over Belarus supported by around 80 editors, managers and technicians in Warsaw.”
The “associates” in question are independently-minded Belarusian journalists whose work is hindered by the restrictive state legislation. Belsat TV is not accredited or recognised in the country, and neither are any of its correspondents and stringers. The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly declined to accredit the outlet, prompting its journalists to do partisan work. The state punishes them with repeated fines, with no limit on how many times a single journalist can be punished.
“The definition of accreditation in Article 1(1) of the Law on Mass Media is as follows: ‘The confirmation of the right of a mass medium’s journalists to cover events organised by state bodies, political parties, other public associations, other legal persons as well as other events taking place in the territory of the Republic of Belarus and outside it’,” said BAJ law expert Volha Siakhovich.
In practice, she explains, the law blocks freelance journalists and independent media outlets from covering the activities of the government and makes accreditation a requisite for a career in journalism. Although refusing accreditation does not equal a total ban on a journalist’s professional activities, it creates obstacles for accessing information. This discriminatory structure is especially acute for freelance journalists and those who work for independent media outlets.
“Article 35(4) of the Law on Mass Media prohibits the activities of foreign journalists in Belarus without accreditation of the Foreign Ministry,” she said. “As Belarusian authorities are unable to control foreign media, they aim to control Belarusian citizens contributing to them. Their aim is to punish and intimidate in order to show that they are under their control at any given time.
“Under Article 22.9, the courts can rule that journalistic activity without accreditation equals ‘illegal production and/or distribution of media content’. The reason for prosecuting journalists for this offence is not the content of their work but that they were published through foreign media.”
And she added: “[When] freelancers are gathering information while filming or interviewing people, they can be detained and accused under Article 22.9. Police officers file reports against freelance journalists and send them to the court. In such cases, the usual evidence is the testimony of the police officers who detained the journalists, and of the people interviewed by the journalists. Then the judges sentence the accused to pay a fine. It’s not unusual if the fine exceeds an average monthly wage in the country [which is about €400].”
Case studies
Here are some of the incidents recorded by Index on Censorship between February and July 2019.

Ales Lyauchuk and Milana Kharytonava
On 31 May, a judge in the Maskouski district of Brest fined journalists Ales Lyauchuk and Milana Kharytonava for “illegal production and distribution of media content”. They were contributing to Belsat TV, covering the ongoing protests against the construction and launch of the iPower battery plant in the city. They were tried in absentia, and learned about the fines only upon returning from their holiday. They had to pay 1,020 Belarusian rubles each (about $1,000 in total).
This wasn’t the first time Lyauchuk and Kharytonava got fined this year. On 21 March, a judge fined them 2,250 Belarusian rubles (about $1,100). The pair had been repeatedly spotted covering protests against the same factory near Brest and interviewing local people, and the trial was based on reports filed by police.
“The materials of the case did not include information about the exact time of our being in the square, no names of people whom we had interviewed; there were no witnesses but, still, we have got a fine of 2,550 rubles,” Lyauchuk told his colleagues at Belsat TV.
On 18 April, the journalists were fined 1,275 Belarusian rubles (about $600) each, also for co-operating with Belsat TV without accreditation. The story they filmed was about the forgotten village of Veluyn, cut off from Brest by a lack of roads and public transportation.
In all, they were fined six times in 2018.
On 15 May, the trial of independent journalists Alena Shabunia and Viachaslau Lazarau took place in Navapolatsk. A judge found both journalists guilty of “illegal production and distribution of media content” under Article 22.9 and fined them 637.5 Belarusian rubles (over $300) each. The case was built around a video of an accident at the Polimir Navapolatsk plant that was broadcast on Belsat TV – the team interviewed worker Andrei Shvilpo, who saved his colleagues but was later convicted of causing harm to production.
Viktar Stukau, head of the Polatsk-Navapolatsk BAJ branch, told online outlet Charter27: “What these journalists did was the usual work of journalists. Moreover, according to our constitution, any person can create such materials, since everyone has a camera in a pocket, and can send them to social networks or to some mass media, Belarusian or foreign. How is it possible to prohibit this?”
On 30 April, Andrei Tolchyn, a Homel-based freelance journalist, was taken to court in connection with four unpaid fines. He was informed that his bank account had been frozen and he would have 10 days to pay the fines to regain access. The hefty fines for “illegal production of media content” came as a result of his unaccredited work for Belsat. The fines totalled 3,200 Belarusian rubles ($1,523). Tolchyn’s account was unblocked after he paid the fines but, in May, he filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee.
Tolchyn used to work with Konstantin Zhukovsky, producing video stories and publishing them on YouTube. Their content was used by a variety of media outlets, including Belsat, so the courts applied Article 22.9 and the journalists were hit with mounting fines. As a result, Zhukovsky and his family left the country in January this year.
On 15 April, a freelance journalist from Hlybokaye, Zmitser Lupach, stood trial in the Sharkaushchyna district court for contributing to Belsat TV without accreditation. A judge imposed a fine of 892.5 Belarusian rubles (about $440) over a news story about the economic situation and low salaries in the district. This was the second time Lupach was fined in a month: on 11 April, the same court fined him 1,020 Belarusian rubles ($485).
He was tried under Article 22.9 (illegal production and/or distribution of media content) and Article 23.34 (violation of the procedure for organising or conducting mass events).
In the first case, the journalist was punished for his report aired on Belsat TV; in the second, for raising a white-red-white flag during Freedom Day, the anniversary of the Belarusian People’s Republic.
Lupach was also tried on 21 February for a story aired on Belsat TV about the monument erected in honour of the Komsomol in Hlybokaye. A judge fined him 892.5 Belarusian rubles (around $430). The previous year, Lupach was in court nine times on the same charges.
On 11 April, a judge in the Leninski district court of Mahiliou fined freelance journalist Alina Skrabunova 1,275 Belarusian rubles ($600). She was found guilty of “participation in the illegal production of media content”, as her video about the opening of an inclusive cafe operated by wheelchair-users had been broadcast on Belsat TV. The police documentation contained the wrong date for the alleged violation and a different charge. However, Skrabunova lost the case.
On 15 March, the Vitsebsk district court found journalist Vitaly Skryl guilty of illegal production and distribution of media content under Article 22.9. He was fined 637.5 Belarusian rubles (about $300) for his video on the closure of an enterprise which was broadcast on Belsat TV. Skryl told Radio Raciyja that he wasn’t surprised by the fine as he’d been fined on a similar charge the year before, for covering the unemployment situation in Orshy.
On 1 February, Ales Kirkevich and Ales Dzianisau were fined 765 Belarusian rubles (about $370) each in the Leninski district court of Hrodna. The charge followed their story titled Historians Exploring the Ancient Hrodna Cellars which was broadcast on Belsat TV. Both journalists were charged with Article 22.9 offences.
However, journalists collaborating with Belsat TV weren’t the only ones who got fined. Bloggers and freelance reporters whose work appeared in foreign or unaccredited media outlets met the same fate.
On 12 April, freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets was fined 765 Belarusian rubles ($364) in Brest for “production of information content for a foreign media outlet that was not accredited in the Republic of Belarus”.
His article, entitled Activists and Independent Journalists Not Allowed Into the Press Conference at the I-Power Plant, had appeared on the website of Belarusian Radio Racyja, which is based in Poland. Like Belsat, the radio station had been previously denied accreditation by the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Just a day before, the Leninski district court of Brest reviewed another case against the journalist on similar charges. The police report stated that he “interviewed without accreditation, thus violating the rights and obligations of a foreign media journalist”. As a result, a judge fined him 765 Belarusian rubles ($364). Skrabets insists that he never sent the article in question to Radio Racyja.
The judge assigned to the case, Aliaksandr Semianchuk, also handled the criminal case of the blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin, accused under Part 2 of Article 188 (“Slander”) and Part 2 of Article 189 (“Insult”) of the Criminal Code on 18 April. The criminal case was opened after a request by a police officer over a video on the blogger’s YouTube channel, Narodnyj Reportior, where people accused police officers of violence.
Piatrukhin was fined 9,180 Belarusian rubles ($4,590) and told to pay damages to the four police officers. The bill totalled $8,840, to be paid within a month, and the judge ordered him to pay the legal fees. The blogger also made a written undertaking not to leave the country, and his property was seized until his dues were paid.
But Piatrukhin remained defiant.
“I’m confident that if there wasn’t this case, there would be another one. They are demonstrating that, if they want, they would do anything,” he told Radio Svoboda. “To make me shut up they should at least shoot me. Whatever they do, they can’t hurt me any more. If they exile me, they’d make me a martyr, a star, draw attention to me. Look at how I live – I don’t have a car or anything. So they can go you-know-where with this fine and the compensation to the policemen. I’m not going to pay anything. Let them do whatever they want. Let them ban me from travelling abroad, I don’t care. This is my country, and I’ve never planned to leave it.”
Piatrukhin’s fundraising campaign, which he later launched on the MolaMola website in order to pay the fines, was suspended by the service provider on 5 May. It explained in a letter that “such activity could be seen as an attempt to evade criminal prosecution” and that it didn’t comply with the current Belarusian legislation. He was able to withdraw the money collected up until that date.
On 12 February, a judge in the Biaroza district court fined blogger Aliaksandr Kabanau 510 Belarusian rubles ($245) for failing to comply with the ruling of the Brest Economic Court. He was found guilty of damaging the reputation of a battery plant being built near Brest in his video published on YouTube. The court decided that Kabanau must remove the video – Lead Will End Up with Brest – from the platform, and publish an apology letter written on his behalf by the battery plant management. Kabanau refused to apologise, and the video has not been removed.
Andrei Bastunets, head of BAJ
The persecution of freelance journalists collaborating with foreign media began in 2014. This was not due to a change in legislation, but the police and the courts began to apply Article 22.9 in order to fine journalists for “illegal production and/or distribution of media products”.
The most difficult period was 2018, when the persecution intensified sharply. Before this, journalists of various foreign publications were fined. This year, it was only Belsat and Radio Rasyja.
Since the beginning of 2019, 38 fines have been imposed. The most recent penalty was on 31 May but, since then, the application of Article 22.9 has been suspended. Perhaps this is because Belarus is hosting the European Games and there are approaching elections. Usually, temporary “liberalisation” occurs before elections in the hope of a more favourable assessment by the international community. The degree of pressure on journalists is, in principle, determined by the political situation in the country.
By penalising freelance journalists for collaborating with foreign media, Belarus violates its international obligations – in particular, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Belarusian Association of Journalists is in favour of lifting the ban on the activities of foreign journalists without accreditation.
Blocked Access
The second most common category of press freedom violation in Belarus this year is blocked access, as recorded by the Monitoring Media Freedom project. Cases range from denying accreditation for political events to journalists being detained prior to mass protests.
In Brest, blogger Aliaksandr Kabanau was detained by riot police in February as he left fellow blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin’s apartment.
The detention occurred just before the start of one of the weekly protests against the construction of a battery factory near Brest that have been taking place every Sunday for a year. Kabanau was released soon after the protest ended.
On 26 May, Piatrukhin was detained by Brest police on a flimsy pretext shortly before the start of an ecological protest. He was held for an hour.
On 9 July, police detained Belsat TV journalist Ihar Kuley and camera crew Syarhei Kavaliou and Maksim Harchanok, who were filming an episode of the programme Belsat Near You at the local market in Hantsavichy, in the Brest region. Officers told them to go to the police station, claiming they were not allowed to film there, and forced them to turn off their cameras. After the police got explanations, the journalists were released.
No journalists were allowed at the meeting held between Anatol Lis, the head of the Brest regional government, and environmental protesters on 12 June, despite the fact that three independent journalists had been included in the list of participants. Audio recording and photography during the meeting were banned.
The management of the iPower battery plant held a press conference on 11 June, but did not allow the majority of independent media representatives and bloggers regularly covering the protests and events connected with this plant to enter.
On 7 June, a Brestskaya Gazeta journalist was told she could not enter a new court building after its inauguration, citing her lack of accreditation.
The foreign ministry officer told Hrodna journalist Victar Parfionenka in a telephone conversation on 14 May that he had again been denied accreditation.
Parfionenka has been contributing to Radio Racyja for 10 years. Every year he appeals to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for accreditation as a foreign correspondent and always gets rejected.
On 18 April, journalists for news website TUT.BY,news agency BelaPAN, newspaper Belorusy I Rynok and European Radio for Belarus were denied accreditation to cover the annual address by Alexander Lukashenko to the National Assembly the following day. This was despite two of them – BelaPAN’s Tattyana Karavenkova and Zmitser Lukashuk, special correspondent for European Radio for Belarus – having permanent accreditation in the parliament.
Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project documents, analyses, and publicises threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, in order to identify possible opportunities for advancing media freedom in these countries. The project collects, analyses and publicises limitations, threats and violations that affect journalists as they do their job, and advocates for greater press freedom in these countries and raises alerts at the international level. The project builds on Index on Censorship’s 4.5 years monitoring media freedom in 43 European countries, as part of Mapping Media Freedom platform.