MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) - Recent attacks on journalists in Ukraine are unacceptable, and Ukrainian authorities need to take measures to protect members of the media working in the country, a representative from Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement Wednesday.
“Violence against journalists has a chilling effect on the whole society and cannot be tolerated. I call on the Ukrainian authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate these attacks and to do their utmost to ensure journalists’ safety,” OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement.
Mijatovic noted that according to some reports Ukrainian law enforcement officers often fail to perform their duties in incidents involving media representatives.
“If police officers and high-ranking officials contribute to endangering journalists’ safety instead of protecting and assisting them, this constitutes an unacceptable and very disturbing practice,” Mijatovic wrote in an August 19 letter to Ukrainian authorities.
Tatyana Lokshina, a representative for Human Rights Watch in Russia, called Ukraine a “trap for journalists.” In an interview with RIA Novosti on August 9, Lokshina stressed that members of the media working in conflict zones in eastern Ukraine are at “great risk,” and noted that five journalists have died in the region in the past three months.
