Threats of violence and pressure from the authorities. In the report on freedom of speech, the OSCE reminded Kiev of the case of Igor Guzhva

The OSCE issued another report on freedom of speech, in which he mentioned the situation in Ukraine.

The document paid attention to the case of the editor-in-chief of the “Country” Igor Guzhva, who asked for political asylum in Austria because of persecution in Ukraine.

The situation was described in the report by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of Expression, Arlem Desire. He noted that Attorney General Yuriy Lutsenko initially promised to demand the extradition of Guzhva, but he did not demand.

“On February 9, I asked the authorities to provide additional information on the development of the case of Igor Guzhva, editor-in-chief of the Country, who left Ukraine after January 6, 2018, citing threats of physical violence and” unprecedented pressure from the authorities. “He applied for political asylum in Austria, I further noted that the Kiev district court ordered the arrest of Guzhva, and the Prosecutor General publicly stated that he would demand the extradition of Guzhva from Austria.

I also expressed my concern about the lawfulness of the search by law enforcement agencies of the premises of the newspaper Vesti, which was created by Igor Guzhva. On March 27 and May 8, I received answers from the authorities, which indicated that Igor Guzhva was under investigation for extortion charges (the case was fabricated by the authorities in 2017 and according to him, Igor Guzhva was arrested – Ed.). After he did not appear at the interrogation in the prosecutor’s office and the court, the judicial authorities declared him wanted. There were no requests for extradition, “Arzem Desir pointed out.

Also, Arles Desire in the context of the “Country” mentioned the detention in Italy of our journalist Anastasia Tovt. “On January 26, I expressed concern to the authorities about the detention of Anastasia Tovt, a Ukrainian journalist with the Internet newspaper Strana.ua, in Rome, who was reportedly searched and some of her equipment was confiscated. On March 12, I received a response from the authorities with information that Anastasia Tovt did not indicate that she was a journalist and that she had not committed any crimes and that her equipment would be returned to her, “the OSCE representative said.

The information is taken from: https://strana.ua/news/149984-v-otchete-obse-po-svobode-slova-vlastjam-ukriany-napomnili-pro-delo-hlavreda-strany-ihorja-huzhvy.html