VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2019) Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich appealed on Thursday to the organization to respond to cases of arbitrary detention, torture and murder in Ukraine.
"The OSCE has to monitor thoroughly and respond meaningfully to all cases of arbitrary detention, torture and murder on the territory of Ukraine," Lukashevich said, addressing the OSCE Permanent Council.
He also noted that there were still no assessments of the alarming information about the "secret prisons" of the Ukrainian Security Service and about the Azov far-right nationalist battalion in Donbas.
According to Lukashevich, Kiev continues to ignore the recommendations of international organizations and the Council of Europe about the need to complete the investigation of high-profile crimes such as murders during Euromaidan protest actions in Kiev and the mass burning of people in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa in 2014.
Lukashevich also touched upon the issue of journalists persecuted by the Ukrainian authorities and called upon the OSCE to take action.
"We urge OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir to continue to respond to the persecution of reporters, both Ukrainian and from abroad, in Ukraine," Lukashevich said.
In this regard, he recalled the detention of RIA Novosti Ukraine portal head Kirill Vyshinsky on suspicion of treason and supporting the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. Lukashevich also mentioned the example of another Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Skachko, who was put on the wanted list on April 9 over what the authorities in Kiev describe as calls for violating Ukrainian territorial integrity in his articles for RIA Novosti back in 2014.
Kiev often attacks different Ukrainian publications and television and radio companies, whose editorial policy does not coincide with the authorities' attitude. Besides Vyshinsky and Skachko, a large number of reporters have been oppressed by the authorities. For example, Igor Guzhva, the editor-in-chief of Kiev-based news website Strana.ua, was detained in Kiev on June 22, 2017 on suspicion of extortion; journalist Vasily Muravitsky was accused of treason for his media publications.
From November 21, 2013 to February 22, 2014, over 100 people died in violent clashes between law enforcement officials and protesters on Kiev's Maidan Nezalezhnosti square. On May 2, 2014, radicals in Kiev chased anti-government protesters to the House of Trade Unions in Odessa and set the building on fire. Over 40 people were burned alive while more than 250 others got injured. A four-year inquiry into the Odessa massacre found no culprits.
