Event “How does the Russian Federation threaten journalists abroad?”

Date: Monday, 8 October 2018, 13:00-14:00.

Venue: Room 8, Council of Europe, Avenue de l’Europe F-67075 Strasbourg, France.

The Russian Federation threatens independent media not only on its own territory but also persecutes dissident journalists and critics of the Kremlin abroad. It attempted to kill Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko residing in Kyiv and forced a hundred of local journalists to leave the occupied Crimean peninsula .

These and other issues will be discussed during the side event “How Russian Federation Treats Journalists Abroad”, where Arkady Babchenko, who was a target of assassination attempt, will tell about the organisers of an attempted murder and recent developments in the investigation of his case; and Yuriy Lukanov will present his book “The Press: How Russia Destroyed Media Freedom in Crimea”. The book contains memoirs and testimonies of twenty Crimean journalists who have left Crimea because of persecution and intimidation. One of these journalists, Iryna Siedova, will tell about blocking of Ukrainian media in Crimea and about the new facts of persecution for freedom of speech and expression on the peninsula.

 Participants:

● Arkady Babchenko, Russian journalist critical of the Kremlin;

● Yuriy Lukanov, author of the book “The Press: How Russia Destroyed Media Freedom in Crimea”;

● Iryna Siedova, Crimean journalist from Kerch, researcher of the Crimean Human Rights Group.

Moderator – Tetiana Pechonchyk, the head of the Human Rights Information Center (Ukraine).

Event languages: Russian and English.