Ukraine

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a Human Rights Watch press release: Ukraine: Parliament Must Combat Political Censorship (New York, December 3, 2002) — The Ukrainian parliament must take steps to end informal censorship of television news broadcasts practiced by the administration of President Leonid Kuchma, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to parliament released […]

(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 27 November 2002 IPI letter to President Leonid Kuchma: H.E.Leonid Kuchma President 252005 Kiev Ukraine Vienna, 27 November 2002 Your Excellency, Convening for its biannual meeting on 23 November in Vienna, Austria, the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 19 November 2002, RSF expressed concern over official statements concerning the recent discovery in Belarus of a body that may be that of Mikhailo Kolomiets, head of the news agency Ukrainski Novyny. The organisation called on Ukraine’s general prosecutor, Svyatoslav Piskun, to personally take up the case and offered to send a […]

(WAN/IFEX) – In a 19 November 2002 letter to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, WAN expressed its grave concern over the reported discovery of the body of journalist Mikhail Kolomiyets. According to reports, the body of Kolomiyets, founder and director of the financial news agency Ukrainian News in Kiev, who went missing on 21 October, has […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 6 November 2002, RSF voiced its concern about the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Mikhailo Kolomiets, director of the Ukrainski Novyny news agency. He has been missing since 21 October. The organisation wrote to Interior Minister Yuri Smirnov, urging him to do everything possible to locate Kolomiets. RSF suggested that, without jumping to […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 13 September 2002 CPJ press release: UKRAINE: CPJ marks second anniversary of journalist’s disappearance Lack of progress plagues Gongadze inquiry New York, September 13, 2002-Two years after the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, the Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the lack of progress in the government’s […]

(IPI/IFEX) – In an 8 July 2002 letter to President H.E. Leonid Kuchma, IPI expressed strong concern about the threats and attempts at intimidation by what seem to be members of the Council for National Security and Defence of Ukraine (CNSDU) against Viktor Vorotnikov, editor-in-chief at “Grani”, a Ukrainian newspaper. According to information provided to […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: UKRAINE: Suspect charged with journalist’s murder acquitted New York, May 17, 2002-The man accused in the July 2001 murder of prominent television journalist Igor Aleksandrov was acquitted today by the Donetsk Court of Appeals in eastern Ukraine. The court ruled that there was not enough evidence […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 18 April 2002, RSF protested the jailing of journalist Oleg Liachko for allegedly libeling a “senior official from the Chief State Prosecutor’s Office” and called for his immediate release. “The chief state prosecutor, Mihailo Potebenko, is clearly behind the legal pursuit and arrest of Liachko, one of his harshest critics,” RSF Secretary-General […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 29 March 2002 RSF press release: Elections will be held in Ukraine on 31 March 2002 after four years of grave deterioration in press freedom. Despite government promises made after pressure from the Council of Europe, there have been more and more physical attacks on journalists since the last […]

(WAN/IFEX) – In a 10 February 2002 letter to President Leonid Kuchma, WAN and the World Editors Forum expressed their grave concern at an acid attack on journalist Tatiana Goriatcheva. According to reports, Goriatcheva, chief editor of the newspaper “Berdiansk Delovoj” in Berdiansk, was attacked on 28 January outside her home by an unknown man […]

(RSF/IFEX) – During an interview with Interfax on 25 January 2002, Deputy Prosecutor General Alexei Baganets announced that the Council of Europe had decided not to create an international commission of inquiry into journalist Georgiy Gongadze’s disappearance and murder, because such a commission would be contrary to Ukrainian law. The deputy prosecutor general’s statement is […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is an IFJ media release: Journalists Condemn Ukraine Over Plans to Provide Weapons for Journalists The International Federation of Journalists today condemned “misguided and dangerous” plans by the Ukraine government to provide weapons for journalists in response to a wave of violent attacks on reporters. “It is the responsibility of government […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 27 September 2001, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly, which was examining a text concerning Ukraine’s respect of its responsibilities, voted in favour of the following amendment: “The Parliamentary Assembly recommends that the Council of Europe’s Council of Ministers urge the Ukrainian authorities to launch a new investigation into the disappearance and […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 18 September 2001 CPJ press release: ON ANNIVERSARY OF UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST’S DISAPPEARANCE, CPJ SUPPORTS CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL INQUIRY New York, September 18, 2001-One year after the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, CPJ joins Gongadze’s widow in calling for an international investigation into the unsolved case. “President Kuchma and […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: 16 September 2001: One year of impunity for Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze’s killers Reporters sans frontières (RSF) calls for the creation of an international commission of inquiry 16 September 2001 is the first anniversary of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze’s disappearance. Gongadze’s decapitated body was found several […]