Journalists killed and missing – 0

New data on journalists killed and missing – 6

Georgiy Gongadze

01.10.2009 Valentyna Telychenko: Dzhiga is directly connected to misleading the investigation.

Mykola Dzhiga is directly connected to misleading the investigation, but it is up to the investigators to find out if Mr. Dzhiga was one of those who gave the order to kill journalist Georgiy Gongadze, said Valentyna Telychenko, Myroslava Gongadze’s legal representative, as she commented on a statement made by MP Yuri Hrymchak (Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense) who said that MP Mykola Dzhiga (Party of the Regions) was connected to organizing the murder of journalist Gongadze, Telekritika reports.

“Mykola Dzhiga was directly connected to misleading the investigation. It was him who manipulated the results of the examination conducted by Ukrainian experts as he made a statement in the Verkhovna Rada trying to convince MPs and consequently all of us that the beheaded body found in the Tarashcha forest could not belong to Georgiy Gongadze, and presented the versions based on untrue facts which defamed Gongadze’s family, friends and himself. Whether Mr. Dzhiga was connected to organizing the murder has to be established by the investigators”, Ms. Telychenko said.

Yuri Hrymchak was informed about that by his sources in the Prosecutor’s General Office who said that such a statement had been made by General Oleksiy Pukach.

“In fact, Pukach confirmed that he was just one of the executors of the assassination, but it was organized by other people, including MP Dzhiga of the Party of the Regions”, Mr. Hrymchak said.
 
MP Hrymchak (Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense) said that recently MP Dzhiga, who is also a head of the Verkhovna Rada investigative committee, ordered the Vyshrogod regional state administration to submit all the originals of the documents “that proved the fact of illegal activities of Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of the Regions, connected to the purchase of the state residence Mezhigirya”.

“If our Prosecutor’s General Office and the president were a little but more persistent and consistent, the parliament would not have to listen to forged reports, but consider the request of the Prosecutor’s General Office to institute criminal proceedings against MP Dzhiga and to arrest him”, Mr. Hrymchak said.

Mr. Dzhiga denies these allegations. He says he has commissioned his legal counsels to prepare a defamation lawsuit. Spokespeople for the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine decline comment too.

14.10.2009 MP Yuri Hrymchak will have to answer the questions of the Prosecutor’s General Office in the Georgiy Gongadze case.

On October 14, Mr. Hrymchak has to answer questions of the investigators of the Prosecutor’s General Office. Mr. Hrymchak says the summons to the Prosecutor’s General Office could be connected to his recent statement when he said that the former first deputy interior minister, head of the Main Directorate for combating corruption and organized crime, presently MP Mykola Dzhiga (the Party of the Regions) to the abduction of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

“I think my summons to the General Prosecutor’s Office was caused by the leak in the Oleksiy Pukach case”, Mr. Hrymchak said. He is surprised that the Prosecutor’s General Office has not interrogative MP Mykola Dzhiga in the Gongadze case yet.

Earlier, Mr. Hrymchak said that Oleksiy Pukach had told the investigators of the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine about Mr. Dzhiga’s connection to organizing the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Later, Mr. Hrymchak admitted that such allegations were inappropriate.

29.10.2009 The Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine agrees to the requirement of Myroslava Gongadze’s lawyer Valentyna Telychenko to replace Mykola Laptiyev, Oleksiy Pukach’s lawyer, Deputy Prosecutor General Mykola Holomsha told Ms. Telychenko.

Earlier, the Prosecutor’s General Office denied Ms. Telychenko’s request to replace lawyer Laptiyev who defended in court one of the killers of journalist Gongadze, Oleksandr Popovych.

Valentyna Telychenko says she demanded to replace Mr. Laptiyev more than once since his appointment violated the norms of the Criminal Procedural Code of Ukraine – this lawyer defended another person involved in the case whose position was in conflict with Pukach’s.

The replacement of the lawyer will hardly have any impact on the progress in the case, Ms. Telychenko said.

29.10.2009 Ukraine’s ex-President Leonid Kuchma is not afraid of the testimonies of the former General Oleksiy Pukach in the Georgiy Gongadze case.

“I have already said I have never met General Pukach and I’m not afraid of his testimony”, Mr. Kuchma said.

“I will be happy if his testimonies will shed light on this high-profile case”, he said.

29.10.2009 The Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine received the results of the examination of the recordings made by Mykola Melnychenko, the former major and bodyguard of Leonid Kuchma, done by German experts. The recordings were allegedly made in the office of the former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma.

“Yes, we confirm that we have recently received the results of the examination. Chief of the investigation group (in the Gongadze case) Kharchenko has them at the moment, they are being translated from English”, spokespeople for the Prosecutor’s General Office report.

At the same time, they do not comment on the conclusions of the experts since the translation of the results of the examination has not been completed yet. Once it is ready, the materials will be analyzed and included in the case for further investigative actions.

30.10.2009 Mykola Melnychenko, Leonid Kuchma’s former bodyguard, says the results of the international examination of the recordings in the Gongadze case verify their authenticity.

“There are no doubts about the conclusions of the international experts… They are true. They have come to the same conclusion – the recordings are authentic”, Mr. Melnychenko said.

He is satisfied with the work of the investigation group of the Prosecutor’s General Office led by Deputy Prosecutor General Mykola Holomsha.

Mr. Melnychenko says the recordings contain the information not only on the murder of Gongadze, but also on other crimes committed by Ukrainian authorities in that period.

Journalists arrested, detained – 0

Journalists attacked, beaten, threatened - 8

01.10.2009 Unknown persons who introduced themselves as SBU officials (Security Service of Ukraine) tried to attack the office of the municipal newspaper Khreshchatyk, says Petro Shcherbyna, Head of the PR Department of the Kyiv Media Holding.

When journalists asked them to show their IDs to confirm their words, one of the officials introduced himself as “SBU investigator Anatoliy Novikov” but refused to show any ID and when the journalists tried to take his photo he started to threaten them, Mr. Shcherbyna says.

Mr. Shcherbyna says the person, who introduced himself as Anatoliy Novikov, called the office of the newspaper for a week and asked different newspaper employees if the newspaper managers were available.

“These people demanded a meeting with the Khreshchatyk management, namely the editor-in-chief, the head of the HR department and the chief accountant. However, they did not specify what for. They could have arrived at the office of the newspaper for political reasons. It is not the first time the people representing authorities have tried to force the employees of the Kyiv newspaper Khreshchatyk to do as they please. In December 2008 and in March 2009, police officers tried to enter the office without providing any explanation for their visit”, Mr. Shcherbyna said.

The journalists of the newspaper believe this visit was connected to the beginning of the election campaign “when journalists are subject to pressure and threatening limiting freedom of expression”, he said.

Mr. Shcherbyna says the newspaper Khreshchatyk is preparing an official letter to the president and prime minister of Ukraine, the head of the Verkhovna Rada, prosecutor general and ombudsperson “demanding to consider such actions of the SBU officials against the municipal mass media”.

04.10.2009 In Ivano-Frankivsk, unknown persons shot at the buildings of the Nova Zorya publishing company. They shot eight times at the stained-glass windows of the company.

The management of the publishing company says this incident is connected to the materials published in its newspaper Nova Zorya, says Mykhailo Zakharchyk, editor-in-chief of the publishing company.

The incident could not have been just an act of hooliganism since the shots were clearly aimed at the stained-glass windows of the office of the publishing company while none of the neighboring houses receiving a bullet, he said.

Mykhailo Zakharchyk says the newspaper published high-profile materials about the murder of nationalist Maksym Chaika in Odessa in its summer issues. The newspaper also covered the visit of Moscow Patriarch Kirill to Ukraine. According to the management of the publishing company, these publications could have resulted in the attack. Police arrived at the scene.

14.10.2009 Unknown persons shot at the office of the Volyn newspaper Viche. They shot eight times at the windows and the door of the Viche office at around 10.30 p.m. the day before the 70^th anniversary of the newspaper, says Editor-in-Chief  V. Prostopchuk.

According to police, this could have been the revenge of a former high-ranking official of the local self-government body who was insulted by the materials published in the recent issues of the newspaper. Police and SBU are currently investigating the incident but have not arrested anybody yet.

“After one of the articles published by our newspaper, I started to receive messages with threats on my cell phone. Unknown persons promised “to kick our asses”. Deputy Editor-in-Chief I. Chub also received phone threats, but he didn’t listen to them”, Viche’s Editor-in-Chief V.V. Prostopchuk told IMI.

Mr. Prostopchuk says such actions of the official are attacks at press freedom and impediment to practice journalistic profession. He is concerned about the growing number of cases of persecution of media personnel. “Today they have just tried, tomorrow they will finish their business”, he said.

14.10.2009 Photographer of the magazine Konflikty I Zakon Ruslan Lubchenko was attacked and beaten in downtown Kyiv, at the camping site of the communists near the monument to Lenin. The members of the Communist party approached the journalist who was taking photos and tried to grab the camera. Then they started hitting his head and shot at him from a gas spray gun. The communists put cuffs on the journalist and kept him this way until the arrival of law-enforcement agents.

“As a result, we can see that no citizen, including journalists, is not protected from illegal actions of state officials”, Ruslan Lubchenko said.

“People at the camping area have guns on them that’s why law-enforcement bodies have to launch an investigation because these people can attack somebody else”, the victim said.

Police did not detain the attackers, instead they chose to detain the journalist. The camera was confiscated and he has not seen it and the memory card with the photos of the scene. 

 
The police is currently investigating the incident, while the magazine Konflikty I Zakon has filed a request to the Prosecutor’s General Office of Ukraine and Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko to ensure prompt and unbiased investigation into the incident. If the investigation is stalled, the journalists threaten to demand the resignation of the Prosecutor General and Interior Minister.
 
Konflikty I Zakon’s Editor-in-Chief Oksana Potiomkina says other journalists are not exactly active in their support.

“In two years, we are going to see more such incidents, and the neutral position of Ukrainian journalists will only make matters worse”, she said.

22.10.2009 On October 6, unknown persons shot at the offices of journalists of Lviv-based newspaper Express, reported the newspaper on October 22 in the article “They shoot. We are not afraid” published on the newspaper’s website. “It was the third time the offices of the Express journalists had been fired at… The last incident took place on October 6, 2009. The first one took place six months before”, the article says.

Representatives of the newspaper stress that “they kept silent without making the details of the incident public to let the police work professionally”. But, according to the journalists, “it is time to call a spade a spade: the local police has failed this test. It is unable to protect citizens, journalists”.

“If the local prosecutor, having all the results of ballistic examinations, bullets and other evidence of the terroristic act, closes the case ‘over a lack of components of crime’, it means this prosecutor is an accomplice of the potential murder, such people cannot work in law-enforcement agencies”, the journalists say in the article.

The journalists ask the interior minister and the prosecutor general to “urgently intervene and take actions to ensure security of the journalists”, and “to find and arrest organizers and executors of the armed attacks by Express journalists”.

24.10.2009 Donetsk police officers attacked and beat journalist Maksym Kasyanov during the preparation of a charity event of the Independent Media Union and the Union of Socially Responsible Sales Workers. It was planned to provide a boarding school with food worth 110 thousand hryvnias.

Union member Maksym Kasyanov was supposed to control the delivery of the food products. However, he failed to find a truck on time, so the journalist asked the sales workers to store the products at the market for a while. He had to leave and find a vehicle.

At around 4 p.m., one of the salespersons called him and said that somebody was stealing the food.

As he arrived at the market, Mr. Kasyanov saw some persons openly stealing the food products, loading them into a truck.

These persons said they were police officers and were confiscating the products from an outlet which was allegedly located in an authorized place.

When the journalist said that the goods belonged to him and demonstrated the certificate and the invoice, the police officers chose to ignore him and continued loading the goods.

Later, more police officers arrived, questioned the journalist, accepted his complaint and, according to the media union, joined others loading the truck.

To check the transport conditions, Mr. Kasyanov climbed into the truck and asked for the document to verify the confiscation of the goods.

Instead, he was pushed down to the ground, and several police officers started kicking him, the journalist says.

Then they put handcuffs on the journalist and tried to shove him into the trunk, but changed their mind and pushed him into the backseat to take him to the Voroshilovsky police station.

Two hours later, Mr. Kasyanov was released and taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with brain concussion and injuries of his head, neck, arms and legs.

26.10.2009 In Dnipropetrovsk, unknown persons tried to kill Kyrylo Danylov, Director of the TV company Privat TV Dnipro (Channel 9).

Police says on Monday evening Danylov came out of the company building and got into a car driven by another journalist of the TV channel. The car drove for about 30 m. when an unknown person arrived and shot at the car.

According to police, this person was passing the car.

According to Novy Mist, the man shot four times and Danylov was not killed only by sheer luck. Mr. Danylov and the other journalist who was in the car were not wounded.

An investigation group led by Dnipropetrovsk Police Chief Anatoliy Naumenko arrived at the scene. Criminal proceedings were instituted under Article 296 (part 4) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hooliganism using firearms). The investigation is in progress.

30.10.2009 Deputy Oleg Cherpytsky attacked Oleksiy Vasylevych, the editor of the newspaper Skandalny Zhytomyr, representative of the NGO Bdzhola.

The deputy noticed the journalist at a supermarket, came up to him and started threatening him, the newspaper reports. He also slapped the journalist several times.

“I could smell in Cherpytsky’s breath. He came up to me and hit me. He threatened to kill me”, the journalist said.

He believes that was the deputy’s reaction to a series of articles exposing his activities and activities of his party, the journalist says.

At the hospital, Mr. Vasylevych was diagnosed with brain concussion and bruises. Police is currently investigating the case.

New data on journalists attacked, beaten, threatened - 6

01.10.2009 Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Valentyn Nalyvaychenko fired SBU employees who on September 30 impeded professional activities of the newspaper Khreshchatyk.

According to the newspaper, on October 1, Mr. Nalyvaychenko called Khreshchatyk’s Editor-in-Chief Denis Zharkikh and “spoke critically about unprofessional and unauthorized actions of the SBU officials who had not introduced themselves, refused to show their IDs and tried to break into the office of the newspaper”.

The SBU chief told Mr. Zharkikh that all the persons involved in the incident had been punished and fired. Mr. Nalyvaychenko said he had personally ordered not to inspect any mass media during the election campaign. Mr. Nalyvaychenko says there should not be any conflicts between SBU and journalists in Ukraine.

On September 30, unknown persons who introduced themselves as SBU officers tried to break into the office of the newspaper Khreshchatyk. When asked to show their ID, one of them said he was “SBU investigator Anatoliy Novykov” (real name – Novychenko - IMI), but did not show any ID to the journalists. When the journalists tried to take his photo, he covered his face with a newspaper and started threatening the journalists of the newspaper Khreshchatyk.

02.10.2009 The Union of Correspondents of Central Mass Media in Odessa and the Odessa Independent Media Union published a statement urging authorities to ensure efficient investigation into crimes against personnel of the TV company ATV committed in Odessa oblast.

This statement is a reaction to the attack at ATV’s journalists who covered on September 29 a rally at the Odessa court, journalists say.

“Such events enable different political forces to take advantage of this dangerous precedent. Some make statements claiming that the assault at the TV channel’s cameraman is a sign of persecution of journalists started by ‘orange authorities’. Others say that the journalists became victims of dangerous intrigues of representatives of those political forces whose ideas they promote”, says the statement.

“Since such events are highly dangerous for society, we call on law-enforcement and prosecuting agencies to ensure prompt and efficient investigation into the crimes against mass media personnel, in particular committed in Odessa oblast”, the authors of the statement stress.

On September 29, the Odessa oblast administrative court was supposed to hear a case of the ATV channel, controlled by ex-deputy of the city council Igor Markov, currently on a wanted list. The channel’s license was to be canceled.

The court was surrounded by representatives of different NGOs, including Free Odessa, the Committee of Defense of Odessa, Prosvita, and Ukrainian People’s party, who supported the decision of the National Council for Television and Radio, confronted by ATV’s supporters, namely businessmen from the Pivnichny market and members of the Communist party of Ukraine.

As the court ruled to adjourn hearing until October 20, the people who took part in the rally saw a group of people returning to the scene. One of them said he was ATV’s cameraman and showed his hand covered in blood saying he had been attacked by a group of “nationalists” in masks who had broken his camera.

A person in a mask attacked the cameraman and took his camera not far from the place of the rally, around the corner of the neighboring building, ATV’s representatives told journalists who were covering the rally and did not see the incident with the ATV crew. When the cameraman tried to get his camera back, he had his hand cut.

On October 30,  the Odessa police instituted criminal proceedings based on the fact of the attack at ATV’s cameraman Dmytro Dokunov under Article 187 (assault) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

21.10.2009 The Odessa prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings against two persons and other unknown persons who had attacked the camera crew of the local TV channel ATV.

ATV’s camera crew was attacked by unknown persons whom they tried to interview on September 29. The criminal proceedings were instituted under Article 171 (part 1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (impediment to practice journalistic profession). Investigators of the Odessa city police department are in charge of the investigation.

Tetiana Kotiuzhinska, Head of the Association of Media Lawyers of Ukraine, agrees with this qualification of the crime. She says the incident can be qualified as hooliganism, impediment to practice journalistic profession, inflicting bodily injuries, “but not robbery”.

At the same time, having watched the video of the rally Ms. Kotiuzhinska characterized “the actions of ATV’s correspondents not as journalistic, but propagandist work”. The lawyer is convinced it is quite obvious that their activities were coordinated by a certain political force, the party Rodina.

In her comment about ATV’s coverage of the campaign of collecting signatures to fire two chiefs of departments of the Odessa city council Ms. Kotiuzhinska speaks about “obvious violation of journalist code of ethics. Journalist activities have to be unbiased. In this case, what we have is propaganda, not journalism”.

Hearing of the case on the lawsuit of the National Council for Television and Radio vs. Odessa-based oppositional TV channel ATV on the withdrawal of ATV’s broadcasting license was scheduled for Tuesday, September 29. The hearing was adjourned.

Around 500 representatives of different organizations gathered around the court. Some of them supported the National Council for Television and Radio, others the oppositional TV channel.

The rally ended in a confrontation of the partied, as a result of ATV’s cameraman was hurt. According to his colleagues, his hand was cut with a knife.

On September 29, the Odessa city police instituted criminal proceedings under Article 187 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (robbery) based on the fact of the attack at ATV’s cameraman Dmytro Dokunov.

23.10.2009 The Frankivski district police (Lviv) is currently checking the facts connected to the incident with the office of the newspaper Express, Denis Kharchuk, chief spokesperson for the Lviv oblast police, told Lvivsky Portal.

He denied that ball cartridges were used as the newspaper had claimed earlier. Police believes air guns were probably used.

Express reported in its editorial as of October 22, 2009 that unknown persons shot at the windows of the newspaper office using ball cartridges at least three times in the last six months. The last incident took place on October 6 but the journalists made this fact public only yesterday. They say somebody is trying to threaten Express personnel but it is still not clear what publications of the newspaper could have triggered such actions.

23.10.2009 Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko ordered Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko to ensure efficient investigation into the facts of the attack at the office of Lviv-based newspaper Express. Yulia Tymoshenko will personally control the investigation.

“It is unacceptable to threaten journalists in such a brutal way”, she said. “Freedom of expression is the biggest achievement of free, democratic Ukraine. I won’t let anybody ruin it”, the prime minister said.

PM Tymoshenko also urged the Security Service of Ukraine to join the case.

30.10.2009 Vladyslav Panfilov, the former head of the legal department of the communal company Farmacy, charged with attacking the journalists of the program Closed Zone, was found guilty of impediment to practice journalistic profession and inflicting minor bodily injuries (Art. 171, part 1, and Art. 125, part 1, of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). This ruling was passed by Judge Kyrylo Kormushin of the Shevchenkivski district court, Kyiv, Telekritika reports.

Igor Rozkladai, the lawyer of the Institute of Media Law, says it is the second time when Article 171 (impediment to practice journalistic profession) has been used in a verdict.

“Normally, courts qualify such cases under a different article, ranging from hooliganism to property damage”, Mr. Rozkladai says.

Vladyslav Panfilov received a two-year suspended sentence. The judge ruled to sentence him under the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Art. 125., p. 1, to 140 hours of community service and under Art. 171, p. 2 to give him a two-year suspended sentence. Under Art. 70 of the Criminal code of Ukraine, the final verdict was limited to the two-year suspended sentence. Mr. Panfilov was also ordered to public apologize to the victims. The judge also satisfied civil lawsuits, filed by Olena Bondarenko and Sergiy Kolesnikov.

On June 25, when journalist Olena Bondarenko and cameraman Sergiy Kolesnikov, the crew of the Closed Zone program, were shooting footage for the program Warning at the office of the communal company Farmacy, Vladyslav Panfilov tried to stop them. First, he covered the camera with his back, then he sprayed the tear gas into the cameraman’s face. The journalists pressed charges against Panfilov. They filed two civil lawsuits seeking moral damage compensation. Journalist Olena Bondarenko sought 1 thousand hryvnias and Sergiy Kolesnikov 50 thousand hryvnias of moral damages.

During the last hearing the journalists showed a video recording o f the incident to prove their testimonies. Having watched the video, defendant Vladyslav Panfilov expressed his doubts about its authenticity: “I am not good with all things technical. It could be an edited recording”. But when asked by the court, he said the voice in the recording “sounded like him” and confirmed that the incident had actually taken place. Mr. Panfilov also tried to explain why he had acted in that way: “I was worried and shocked by the information, which I considered as untrue, that Farmacy was a money-making tool” (a background phrase in the story).

The arguments followed the investigation. Prosecutor Taras Yurko demanded that the court find Panfilov guilty of deliberate impediment to practice journalistic profession and inflicting bodily injuries, impose a fine worth of 50 untaxed minimum wages and a one-year suspended sentence. In her speech, Olena Bondarenko said that Vladyslav Panfilov was perfectly aware of his actions. “He is a professional lawyer and he knew what he was doing. He waited for me to leave to ensure there were no witnesses. As a lawyer, he had to realize he should have waited for police. Besides, he boasted about what he had done”, she said.

Impediment to practice journalistic profession, censorship - 4

21.10.2009 Vlad Isayev, journalist of the newspaper Rivne Vechirne, filed an application to the head of the Rivne regional independent media union asking him to protect rights of the local journalists.

“On October 20, 2009, a group of the local journalists arrived by the Rivne foundry to cover a planned meeting of shareholders and an occupation of the foundry by the security company Taifun. The security did not allow the journalists to enter the building without any explanation. The grating covering the entrance was connected to the power cable and could be activated any moment. Besides, the grating was connected to the railing up to the first floor”, he said.

The journalists consider such actions of representatives of Taifun as serious violation of their professional right to free access to information, while the connected cable was clearly an attempt at impediment to practice journalistic profession. The application was also signed by journalists of the newspaper Reporter, TV channels Sphere and Channel 5, who had been present at the foundry at that day.

30.10.2009 Journalists were not allowed to attend a meeting of the Interdepartmental regional operative group for combating corruption in SBU, held in Lviv. When journalists arrived, they were told only persons on a list would be allowed. But not all of them turned out to be on the list.

Andriy Reshotka, representative of SBU, told the Public Forum of Lviv press secretary, who had never been banned from such meetings before, that this decision had been taken by two co-heads of the operative group – Deputy Oblast Prosecutor Volodymyr Gural and Deputy Head of the Lviv oblast department of the Security Service of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedelesh.

It was decided to invite journalists only to certain events. Some limitations were set for NGOs as well – from now on, only one representative of each NGO could join the operative group. Obviously, officials are trying to hide a real state of combating corruption in the country, creating an illusion of such activities.

16.10.2009 Journalists of Beregove, a town in Zakarpattya region, were prohibited to cover activities of deputies of the regional council, reported Laslow Zubanych, editor-in-chief of the regional newspaper Visnyk Beregivshchyny.

A deputy head of the Beregove regional state administration has sent a letter to the newspaper criticizing publications of its journalists. “Journalists are biased, information on activities of the deputies is not based on facts”, the letter says.

The deputy head was obviously not happy about detailed reports on sessions, normally produced by Laslow Zubanych (who is also a deputy of the regional council). Laslow Zubanych says that some deputies, members of the biggest Hungarian faction of the regional council, complained about comments and reports on their work, published in Visnyk Beregivshchyny, to the head of the regional council. As a result, Beregove journalists were made “scapegoats”.

“To avoid such misunderstanding, we reached a certain compromise – information on the sessions of the regional council are to be published based on the official minutes of work of the regional deputies”, Laslow Zubanych says.

16.10.2009 Truskavets Mayor Lev Hrytsak signed a resolution banning journalists of the newspaper Dzherela Truskavtsia to attend sessions of the city administration. He said the newspaper covered his activities inadequately.

When the newspaper journalists arrived at a session at the city administration, they were told they had not been invited to the session.

DT’s journalist asked O. Blazhivsky, the mayor’s assistant, for explanation. Mr. Blazhivsky said Truskavets Mayor Lev Hrytsak had signed a resolution on the participation of civil servants and representatives of mass media in weekly sessions of the city mayor, specifying that the DT’s journalists were not on the list. The newspaper covers the activities of the city council in a biased way, the official said.

New data on impediment to practice journalistic profession

12.10.2009 Nova Kakhovka prosecutor instituted criminal proceedings based on the fact that UNIAN’s photographer Vitaliy Danylchenko had not been allowed to take photos during a raider attack at the Kherson oblast-based plant Tavria. The prosecutor presses charges of impediment to practice journalistic profession.

The case was opened on October under Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the journalist said. The prosecutor says the investigation revealed enough acts to institute criminal proceedings.

On September 3, a group of unknown persons attacked the office of the Tavria plant.

UNIAN’s photographer V. Danylchenko was hurt during the attack. The security guards of the plant thought Mr. Danylchenko supported the attackers, so they hit him and broke his camera.

On September 1, the Nova Kakhovka regional prosecutor said they had not established offences which could be qualified under Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, so they could not press charges of impediment to practice journalistic profession during the raider attack at the Tavria plant.

 
At the same time, Ukraine’s Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko said on September 18 that the prosecutor had pressed charges of impediment to practice journalistic profession based on the fact of the attack at UNIAN’s photographer V. Danylchenko during the conflict at the plant.

Mr. Lutsenko said he had discussed it with the prosecutor who assured him that the criminal case had been opened. “Nevertheless, I talked to the prosecutor, we discussed this situation and he said that the charges of impediment to practice journalistic profession had been pressed”, the interior minister said.

Economic, political, indirect pressure - 5

02.10.2009 As Polish owners of the Radio 4U sold the radio to Kyiv businessmen, they forgot to warn their employees they were going to lose their jobs.

Journalists found out about the decision of the Polish owners to sell the radio station from the press and their partners.

“Our Polish owners do not find it necessary to warn us about the firing. We have found out about the decision to sell the radio stations from other people, Polish press, Polish friends but not our owners”, Olga Borovets, head of the information service of Radio 4U, told IMI.

Journalists tried to contact Polish managers but the latter preferred not to pick up or reply to emails, she said.

“When owners of the radio station came to tell our directors about their decision to sell Radio 4U, they did not even come to the newsroom to say hello to journalists. Plus a number of employees have been fired since April”, said Ms. Borovets.

“Earlier the Polish owners fired the journalists and paid compensations under the law, while this time they just left us at mercy of the new owners who told us to resign”, she said.

06.10.2009 Unknown persons from the Front for Change hacked the website of the Party of the Regions and posted the following message there:

“This is a lesson. A lesson for criminals who on September 2 hacked the website of the FRONT FOR CHANGE. We conducted an independent investigation which brought us to the Party of the Regions. It was this party, or to be more exact it leaders, that funded the illegal actions contradicting the Constitution, the Criminal Code and the Civil Law of Ukraine. They infringed on the most treasured value of citizens of Ukraine, their freedom. Freedom of choice. Freedom of taking independent decision.

“Our lawyers have already contacted the prosecutors who have instituted criminal proceedings. We will not let criminals among high-ranking officials to do as they please. Those who were once in jail cannot come to power today. When our party is elected by Ukrainian people, all culprits will be in jail since they are unable of integrating in a civilized society and adopt its values”.

This message was deleted later. On September 2, the website of the NGO Front for Change, led by Arseniy Yatseniuk, was hacked.

20.10.2009 The website of Mizhnarodny Kuryer, a social and political edition has been hacked, Telekritika reports. On October 14-16, 2009, the contents of the website was deleted and cannot be restored.

MK’s representatives cannot name possible masterminds and executors of the attack. However, among possible reasons behind the attact could be an interview with a state official about a possible forge of the results of the presidential election.

22.10.2009 The committee of the Kyiv independent media union made a statement about inadequate actions of politicians concerning journalists and attempts at censorship. The Kyiv independent media union warns owners of mass media against attempting to limit press freedom and put pressure on their employees before the presidential election in Ukraine.

Statement

The of the Kyiv independent media union has to note sad tendencies on the eve of the presidential election campaign bringing Ukrainian society to the practices of the notorious year 2004. They are mostly inadequate behavior and implicit threats of politicians and even presidential candidates against journalists. Politicians have tried to make court ban any criticism of their actions. Lately, several channels have reported open attempts at censorship when edited critical materials about one of the presidential candidates were banned. Such trends are far from being dominating so far, but there are reasons to worry.

 
The Kyiv independent media union calls on mass media personnel and journalists to maintain critical attitude to presidential candidates and other politicians, offering unbiased coverage of events. We also warn owners of mass media against putting pressure on journalists. The Kyiv independent media union will monitor the process and will organize protests and file lawsuits once it detects any actions against freedom of expression.

26.10.2009 Unknown persons hacked the website of presidential candidate Anatoliy Hrytsenko on behalf of the Front for Change. Most of the materials were replaced by the following message: "HACKED BY FRONT ZMІ H4CK T34M! This attack is a reaction to the hacking of the website of the FRONT FOR CHANGE facilitated by a group of persons. It was conspiracy against the Constitution and Criminal Code of Ukraine. Against democracy and freedom of expression. Against Ukrainian people…

P.S. Yulechka [PM Yulia Tymoshenko], you said we would not do it. We can do anything. Yours, A. Y.” 

 
Mr. Hrytsenko says this hacker attack is an attempt to compromise presidential candidates and sees no reason to press charges against Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of the Front for Change, Korrespondent reports.

The website of the Party of the regions was hacked on October 6. Hackers claimed they acted on behalf of the Front for change. Earlier, on September 2, the website of the Front for change was hacked too.

New data on economic, political, indirect pressure - 1

07.10.2009 The Front for Change denies any connection to the hacker attack at the website of the Party of the Regions, which took place on October 6.

 
“We are disappointed by a raising number of dirty political moves against political parties and civic organizations”, spokespeople for the Front for Change report. Representatives of Arseniy Yatseniuk’s organization calls it ‘provocation against their movement’.

On September 2, the website of the Front for Change was hacked, the message "HACKED! Out of Ukraine!" was posted on the main page. On October 6, the website of the Party of the Regions was hacked by persons who said they acted on behalf of the Front for Change.

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