Photo: Flickr/European Parliament
The members of the European Parliament to look into a resolution on media freedom in Ukraine, RIA Novosti reports. The document was drafted because of Kiev’s politically motivated pressure on Ukrainian TV channels 112 Ukraine and NewsOne. The restrictions of the Verkhovna Rada in regards of these channels came into force at the beginning of the month.
The resolution was drawn up by British politician Jonathan Arnott with assistance from British and German MEPs Nathan Gill and Arne Gericke.
According to Gerike, the freedom of speech faces great problems in Ukraine. He is convinced that the country will not reach progress without independent media if journalists are scared to speak their mind.
Arnott added that he had visited Ukraine and had the chance to experience first-handed how strong the pressure on journalists was. The methods of persuasion included the use of force, from beating and attacks on journalists to closing the media.
According to experts, more than 300 journalists were arrested last year because of their professional activities. This figure is much higher than the corresponding figure for 2016.
EU Political Report observer Martin Banks stated that Kiev systematically violated the rights of journalists. Journalist Kirill Vyshinsky has been under arrest for several months under a false pretext.
Russkiy Mir reported that Russia had repeatedly urged EU countries to look into the facts of fundamental human rights violations in Ukraine and violations of the freedom of speech and the right for cultural and linguistic identity in particular.
Russkiy Mir
