Ibero-American Journalists Organization Calls On Kiev To Release Journalist Vyshinsky

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th August, 2018) The Ibero-American Journalists Organization calls on the Ukrainian authorities to release Kirill Vyshinsky, the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal, and is ready to send a letter with this request to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Alvaro Martinez, the head of the organization, told Sputnik on Friday.

Friday marks the 100th day since Vyshinsky's arrest by the Ukrainian authorities on suspicion of supporting the self-proclaimed Peoples Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as treason. Russian consular personnel have been denied access to Vyshinsky, with the Ukrainian authorities referring to the fact that he is a Ukrainian citizen. The Russian Foreign Ministry has described Kiev's actions as lawlessness, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stating that Kiev's actions were unacceptable. The Russian Embassy in Kiev has sent two notes to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demanding that violence against media workers be stopped.

"We, in the Ibero-American Journalists Organization, are very much concerned over the situation of our colleague, journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, who has been in custody in Ukraine for 100 days for no reason, as no charges have been filed against him. This is a very ambiguous situation that does harm to him and his family. At the same time, this is a human rights abuse issue," Martinez said, adding that the organization was calling on Pososhenko to come to Vyshinsky's defense.

He voiced hope that Poroshenko would get involved into the matter, and that Vyshinsky would be released as soon as possible.

"On behalf of the Ibero-American Journalists Organization, we once again address the Ukrainian authorities, asking them to set our colleague free, as, I'll say it once again, he has been detained for 100 days already. In other case, we will send a letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko with a request to release our colleague. And we will certainly send copies of this letter to human rights organizations. We hope that the issue will be resolved as soon as possible," Martinez added.

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vyshinsky's arrest is politically motivated, and the incident demonstrates an unprecedented and unacceptable policy of Ukrainian authorities targeting journalists who are just doing their job. RT and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan has also slammed the arrest as a "decision ... in the spirit of 'European values' in a Ukrainian way."