Impunity results in further attacks on journalists in Ukraine

The brutal attacks on journalists are further being committed, as many previous cases have not yet been investigated into.

As said in the statement of the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine, the recent attack on the journalists of the NTN Ukrainian TV channel shows the trend of violence and gruff treatment of journalists. The progress of this trend is facilitated by the fact that previous attacks have not been investigated by the police officers and the perpetrators are not yet punished. Over a dozen cases when the journalists were prevented from performing their professional duties, threatened, beaten, or arbitrarily detained have been recorded during summer.

The Media Trade Union reminds that the trial of the notorious Vadym Titushko and his associates, who beat journalists Olha Snitsarchuk and Vlad Sodel, was a rare case of punishment. However, the punishment came after the protests of the outraged journalists.

Unfortunately, the current leadership of the Interior Ministry continues to ignore the facts of rough treatment of journalists. The perpetrators are not punished properly. The Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine warns that the journalistic community will be forced to resort to more drastic actions if this trend continues.

As reported by the Union, the young people attacked the journalists of the Agents of Influence TV program produced by the NTN TV channel, who filmed the story about the illegal construction in Kyiv on August 10.

August 2, member of the Kherson branch of the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine Ihor Trubayev reported that deputy chief of the Ukraine’s Interior Ministry department in Kherson region Illia Kiva threatened a journalist while chatting on Facebook that he would assist in sending him to the front line, if he continued to ask questions.

July 25, in Mykolayiv, the employee of illegal slot machine hall banned journalists from filming and started grabbing the camera of journalist of the Prestupnosti.Net (No Criminality) website Andriy Lokhmatov, screaming and pushing the media employees out of the hall.

The inaction of police is also traced in older cases. For example, the court has not yet examined the case of attack on the STB TV channel camera crew by developer Oleksandr Tabaliuk on June 27, 2013. The reporters then covered the session of the the Irpin town council (Kyiv region) to prepare a story how the developers destroy the town’s green areas.

“The Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine calls on the journalists to unite in support of their colleagues, to defend their rights, to demand that the law enforcement bodies conduct investigations and report on their progress in public. Impunity kills!”  reads the statement.