MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2020) Three former members of the European Parliament, who are part of the 112 Ukraine broadcaster's International Editorial Board, have accused the Ukrainian government of attacking free speech after Kiev attempted to gain legal consent to seize the television channel's corporate rights.
According to a press release published on Thursday, the UK's Nathan Gill and David Coburn, as well as their German counterpart Arne Gericke, praised a court's decision for rejecting the motion, which was tabled by the country's Security Service and the Office of the Prosecutor General.
"The International Editorial Board considers the case against 112 Ukraine tv channel as a far-fetched and politically motivated attempt by the Ukrainian authorities to continue exercising pressure on the opposition television channel. In view of this, the International Editorial Board hails the decision of the court ... but states further attack on the rights of journalists and the restrictions of freedom of speech in Ukraine," the press release read.
The motion sought to permit the transfer of 112 Ukraine's assets to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency. This would have subsequently allowed the state body to either appoint a new manager at the broadcaster or sell the company to a third party at auction, the editorial board said.
The Ukrainian government has completed multiple revisions of a new draft media bill, although the head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Sergiy Tomilenko, warned in late June that the revisions would threaten the rights of the country's journalists.
