EU-Ukraine Association Council Urges Kiev to Protect Journalists Working in Country
The EU-Ukraine Association Council, which held the 5th meeting in Brussels on Monday, highlighted in its press release the need to protect journalists and rights activists in Ukraine from attacks.
Earlier in December, the European Parliament passed a resolution on the EU-Ukraine Association agreement, where the lawmakers expressed their concern about the increasing number of criminal cases against journalists in the country who had tried to shed light on corruptness of government officials or criticized the authorities' policies.
"The Association Council agreed on the need to ensure the freedom of media and a pluralistic media environment ... The EU and Ukraine agreed on the need to protect journalists and civil society activists against violent attacks and deeply regretted the recent incidents and threats.
In order to prevent such attacks from reoccurring, the Association Council stressed the importance of stepping up efforts to bring those responsible to justice," the press release said.
President of the Ukrainian National Union of journalists Sergiy Tomilenko said earlier in December that as many as 78 attacks had been carried out against journalists in Ukraine since the beginning of the year, including six cases of physical aggression in November.
Moreover, dozens of journalists have faced persecution and detention in Ukraine over the past few years, including Igor Guzhva, the editor-in-chief of Kiev-based news website Strana.ua, who was detained in Kiev on June 22, 2017 on suspicion of extortion; journalist Vasily Muravitsky, who was accused of treason for his media publications; and the arrest of RIA Novosti Ukraine web portal head Kirill Vyshinsky in May.