Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has appealed to the international community with a request to conduct an independent medical survey and provide assistance to the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine news portal, Kirill Vyshinsky, who has already spent nearly six months in custody in Ukraine on suspicion of treason.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th November, 2018) Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has appealed to the international community with a request to conduct an independent medical survey and provide assistance to the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine news portal, Kirill Vyshinsky, who has already spent nearly six months in custody in Ukraine on suspicion of treason.
"I appeal to the international community with a request so that independent doctors could conduct an examination and provide medical assistance to journalist Kirill Vyshinsky," Moskalkova told reporters.
Moskalkova added that she was disappointed with the decision of a Ukrainian court to extend the term of Vyshinsky's detention and the failure of the Ukrainian authorities to comply with the court's decision on a full-scale medical examination of the journalist.
According to the rights commissioner, it is not clear whether or not a cardiologist visited Vyshinsky.
Vyshinsky was detained in Kiev on May 15 on suspicion of supporting the breakaway republics of Donbas and on treason charges. Given the charges, the journalist may face up to 15 years in prison.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Vyshinsky's arrest was politically motivated, adding that the incident demonstrated an unprecedented and unacceptable policy of Ukrainian authorities targeting journalists who were just doing their jobs. The Russian Foreign Ministry lodged protests, calling on Kiev to stop media crackdown.
Harlem Desir, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, has also expressed his concern over Ukraine's actions toward Vyshinsky, stressing that, under the Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE states "have committed to facilitating the conditions under which journalists from one participating State exercise their profession in another participating State."
On November 1, a Kherson court extended the arrest of Vyshinsky until December 28.
