Сrimes against journalists mostly punished with fines – activists

Only 17 out of 329 criminal cases over crimes against journalists have been submitted to court.

This was announced by deputy chief of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine Maksym Tsutskiridze, the Human Rights Information Center correspondent reports.

“The common statistics is 329 reports on crimes against journalists. 17 criminal proceedings have been submitted to court. Seven cases are exclusively over obstructing the work of journalists,” Tsutskiridze said.

Recalling the terrorist attack near the Parliament of Ukraine on August 31, Tsutskiridze informed that a total of 208 people had been injured then. There were four journalists among them, including French freelance photographer Antoine Delaunay.

“Unfortunately, it is impossible to carry out investigative activities with him now, these issues are being addressed through the embassy and he will be recognized as an aggrieved person,” the deputy chief said.

He also noted that there was a precedent for the use of new Article 345-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Threat or violence against journalists”). Two people are charged under this article.

“I talked with the investigators, there are no problems in the implementation of the new legislation – everything is clear. This case will also be submitted to the court soon,” Tsutskiridze said.

Tsutskiridze assured that the National Police in cooperation with the Prosecutor’s Office would do everything possible to carry out impartial investigation and submit the cases to court.

“The people, who have violated the rights of journalists, should be punished not with symbolic fines but with the real terms in those cases where the article provides for such a sanction,” the police representative said.

However, the NGOs are dissatisfied with the pace of investigation and sentencing and require high-quality work of the law enforcement officers.

“We see the positive declarations of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the National Police, and the Interior Ministry. However, we insist that our colleagues should no longer be the statistic lines in the reports of the officers and the cases should be really investigated,” said acting chairman of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Serhiy Tomilenko. “The Presidential Administration has the report on the investigation into the crime committed against Cherkasy photographer of the Evening Cherkassy newspaper Ihor Yefimov. However, I called this reporter, who was beaten by 15 or 20 police officers with batons despite seeing he was dressed in a ‘Press’ waistcoat and was defenseless, and Ihor said that the investigation was of a poor quality.”

Oksana Romaniuk noted that one of the reasons for the unjust punishment for criminals was the absence of monitoring of such cases.

“Often, the journalists inform only about the fact of the attack, and what happens next is dropped out of sight. We do not inform about the progress of cases, do not go to the courts. So, unfortunately, there is a punishment at the level of fines. To remedy this, we need to actively monitor the investigation and court hearings,” Romaniuk said.

The public activists added that about 300 journalists had been injured during the Maidan protests. As the Prosecutor General’s Office reported, only three cases over the beating of journalists during the Revolution of Dignity have been submitted to court in 2015.

“Impunity is also one of the key features of the non-democratic regimes, where the people are being deceived by propaganda, and where the authorities are not asked harsh questions. Therefore, the authorities of a democratic and a pro-European country should systematically demonstrate that they are able to ensure the safety of journalists, the citizens’ right to information and support freedom of speech not in words but in deeds,” reads the joint statement of the NGOs.

As reported, according to the Institute of Mass Information of Ukraine, only six criminal cases were submitted to the court in 2014. Five cases were submitted in 2013, and only three cases in 2012. Four criminal cases were submitted to the court during November 2015.