Ukraine

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing its concern about the assassination of journalist Igor Bondar in Odessa (in Ukraine’s south-western region). According to RSF’s information, on 16 May 1999, Bondar, 32, director of the AMT television station, was shot and killed in the city’s residential neighbourhood, as he was driving in a car with Boris Vikhrov, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is deploring the death sentence against Alexander Glek, who was found guilty of the August 1997 murder of journalist Boris Derevyanko. According to RSF’s information, on 19 March 1999, the Odessa court found Glek guilty of killing journalist Derevyanko and sentenced him to death by firing squad. The court found “the lure […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is concerned by the cancellation of programming of the television station TV 11 in Dnepropetrovsk (in Ukraine’s east). According to RSF’s information, on 17 March 1999, the Dnepropetrovsk authorities took down and seized the television station’s transmitters. The journalists were ordered to leave the station’s offices. TV 11 has not broadcast since […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 5 March 1999 RSF press release: **New cases and updates to IFEX alerts of 25 February, 15 January and 6 January 1999** Press Release Ukraine RSF denounces media repression in the run up to the upcoming presidential election Kiev authorities have increased pressure against the media in the run […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing concern further to the non-publication of the opposition weekly “Politika” in Kiev. According to RSF’s information, since the Kiev court authorised the resumption of publication on 17 February 1999, none of the city’s printers, the most important of which are state-owned, have accepted to print “Politika”. **Updates IFEX alert of […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is seeking clarification with regard to the imprisonment of journalist Vladimir Efremov in Dnepropetrovsk (in Ukraine’s east). According to RSF’s information, on 13 January 1999, Efremov, editor-in-chief of the daily “Sobor”, was arrested and detained in the Dnepropetrovsk prison. Authorities have accused him of irregularities in the processing of a loan for […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is expressing concern further to the launching of legal proceedings against journalist Oleg Liachko. According to RSF’s sources, on 28 December 1998, the Petcherskiy (Kiev) municipal court ordered the arrest of Liachko, who is editor-in-chief of the weekly “Politika”. The journalist is accused of “slander” and “misuse of office” (Articles 125 and […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 29 July 1998, Sergeï Odaritch, editor-in-chief of the bi-monthly newspaper My (“Us”) and president of the non-governmental organisation Ukrainian Perspectives, was the victim of an armed attack outside his home in Kiev. After confirming the identity and position of Odaritch, an unknown individual fired three shots at the journalist, wounding his leg. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 31 July 1998, on 27 July 1998, Igor Alexandrov, a host on regional television in Donetsk (eastern Ukraine), was sentenced to a five-year ban from working as a journalist and fined 2,500 grivnas (US$1,250.00) for “libel” by the Donetsk Tribunal. He is appealing the verdict. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to information made available by RSF on 2 July 1998, on 29 June 1998, at approximately 9:00 a.m. (local time), Olexandre Syrtsov, a reporter for the daily “Den”, was attacked by unknown individuals on his way to work in Lviv (in western Ukraine). The journalist, who received severe kicks to his head […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 23 February 1998, a libel judgment was issued against “Vseukrainskiye Vedomosti”, which has forced the shut-down of the popular opposition daily. “Vseukrainskiye Vedomosti” published its last issue on 26 March 1998, after losing a controversial libel case to a government-tied sports organization for 3.5 million hryvnyas (about US$1.8 million) […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 28 January 1998 the government of the Ukraine shut down the opposition daily newspaper “Pravda Ukrainy”, two months before national parliamentary elections. According to the newspaper’s editor, Oleksander Horobets, the shutdown occurred when the state publishing house, Presa Ukrainy, announced it would no longer publish the newspaper on the order of the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is concerned about a bomb attack on the offices of the daily newspaper “Vetcherniaia Gorlovka”, in the Donetsk region in the eastern part of the country. According to its information, RSF reports that on 8 January 1998 at about 3:40, unknown people threw a grenade through the window of the office of […]

**Includes new cases. For background to previously- reported case, see IFEX alerts as noted in text** In a 10 July 1996 letter to Ukrainian authorities, the full-text of which is included below, the CPJ expresses concern at attacks against journalists in Simferopol and Sevastopol, at reports of serious incidents which threaten press freedom in the […]

Six anonymous articles attacking independent journalists have been published in leading Ukrainian newspapers known to be close to the government. On 11 June 1996, an article published in “Nezavissimost” with a false byline attacked Dimitri Djanguirov, a journalist with the weekly “Business”, stressing his Armenian origins in order to discredit his criticism of presidential policy. […]

On 10 May 1996, the dead body of freelance journalist Igor Grouchetsky was found on a street near his home in the city of Tcherkassy, southwest of Kiev. He had a severe wound to his head. According to Ukrainian television and the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Grouchetsky was well-known for his reporting of crime and corruption […]