The law on languages, the arrest of Vyshinsky, the death of Gandzyuk and the attack on the “Country.” What is included in the new OSCE report on Ukraine

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Arlem Dezir, presented a report on the situation in the countries of this organization. It covers the period from July to November 2018.

Ukraine is devoted to four pages. Mentioned in the report and “Country” – there got an attempt to recruit our employee, an officer of the SBU.

We read the report and figured out what other violations Desir found in Ukraine.

July
The document first refers to the law on extrajudicial blocking of websites, which allows any investigator to issue a decision and temporarily close the website. Desir said that he asked to send the draft law for revision, as opening the way to abuse of power.

The report also included the case of the extradition of journalist Yusuf Inan to Turkey, who had a certificate of permanent residence in Ukraine. Inana was detained by the SBU. On what legal grounds it happened – Kiev does not comment. In Turkey, the journalist is wanted for membership in the organization of the opposition preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Desir considered violation of the ban on entry by the head of the Russian Union of Journalists, Vladimir Solovyov (the namesake of the famous TV presenter). Ukrainian authorities said that Solovyov was visiting the annexed Crimea.

On the anniversary of the murder of Pavel Sheremet – July 20 – the OSCE drew the attention of the Ukrainian authorities to the fact that the murderers are still walking around in freedom. Also on these days was the anniversary of the death of Russian journalist Andrei Stenin in the Donbas – Desir called for the protection of the press regardless of where they work.

August
In August, the report says, there were two incidents with journalists. On August 2, a GAZ truck drove into a Toyota car in the village of Limanka, Odessa region, in which there was the leader of the local organization Narodniy Rukh, Mikhail Kuzakon, and journalist Grigory Kozma. The truck driver fled the scene of the moped incident.

The second case is the gas attack of the police against the photographer “Associated Press” Efrem Lukatsky. The journalist shot a protest action around one of the Kiev construction projects.

Desir also demanded the release of the Ukrainian blogger Stanislav Aseev, who is contained in the “DPR”, who was interviewed by the Russia 24 TV channel.

September
In the fall, Desir drew attention to the case of Boris Herman, who was sentenced to 4.5 years for organizing the assassination attempt on Arkady Babchenko. Recall that this story then turned the Ukrainian government into an object of criticism: it was reproached in Europe for the fact that “the murder of Babchenko” turned out to be fake.

In September, a scandal erupted with the wiretapping of Natalia Sedletskaya, a Schema program journalist. Desir demanded that the Ukrainian authorities correlate their actions with international standards. He also mentioned the attempt of the Prosecutor General’s Office to study the phone of the New Time correspondent Christina Berdinsky.

Separately mentioned in the report is the case of an attack on NewsOne journalist Darina Beeler. The OSCE representative calls what is happening “unacceptable.” Recall that the reporter was attacked by nationalists from the “Brotherhood” Korchinsky.

Desir also reports of a “company of persecution” addressed to the head of the Institute of Mass Media, Oksana Romanyuk.

Romanyuk claimed in her Facebook that she began to receive threats after she drew attention to the fact that during the annual OSCE meeting in Warsaw a member of the Russian delegation said about the murder of blogger Anatoly Sharia, confusing him with the murdered journalist Pavel Sheremet.

At the same time, according to Romanyuk, she did not write statements to the police.

Dezir also considers it worthwhile to note the fact of disconnecting from broadcasting for debts. UA: First. This channel cannot pay for its own broadcasting, and in the state budget the expenses for Public Television are decreasing.

The OSCE also expressed concern about the too fast disconnection of analog television in Ukraine.

Of the other important incidents of September – an attempt to burn the house of Zhytomyr journalist Artur Zhurbenko. “The arson occurred after a journalist published an article about corruption related to representatives of the judiciary,” writes Desir.

The OSCE representative described the case of the “Country” in his address to the Ukrainian authorities:

“I once again raised the case of Strana.ua journalist Vyacheslav Seleznev, who was forced to cooperate with the Security Service of Ukraine. Strana.ua published an investigation into this case, in which they documented messages and text messages (including threats) between the alleged officer of the SBU and a journalist, “said Desir.

He also considers unacceptable the decision of the Lviv regional council to ban Russian-speaking cultural product in the region. “This can negatively affect the free flow of information and the reflection of the cultural diversity of ideas and opinions, especially among non-Russian-speaking people. I asked for additional information, including about methods of implementing the moratorium,” the official said.

October
In October, Desir called on the National Security and Defense Council and the Verkhovna Rada to refrain from sanctions and pressure against two TV channels – 112 and NewsOne. Parliament finally voted for these sanctions, but the Security Council has not yet begun to consider this issue.

One of the most detailed – in several paragraphs – the place of the report was the analysis of the law on languages ​​passed by the Rada. It requires from the print media 100% dubbing of the circulation in the Ukrainian language, and from the broadcasters – 80-90% quotas for the state language.

According to Desir, “the bill could jeopardize media pluralism on the media market, impose
additional costs to the media and negatively affect the reflection of the diversity of ideas and opinions ”

The OSCE Secretary-General therefore asked the authorities to “carefully study the draft law in the following readings and
conduct thorough consultations. ”

November
Desir expressed concern about the length of the arrest of Cyril Vyshinsky – Director of RIA Novosti Ukraine. He demanded to release the journalist when he learned that his arrest had once again been extended until the end of December.

“Shock and sadness.” This is Dezir’s reaction to the death of Catherine Gandzyuk, who died in Kiev on 4 November.

At the end of the report, the OSCE representative urged to speed up the investigation of the case of journalist Vasily Muravitsky, who is accused of treason and recently released under house arrest.

Information taken from: https://strana.ua/news/172727-otchet-obse-po-svobode-smi-v-ukraine-analiz-doklada.html