Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said he believes that the courts should not have prohibited journalists from gathering outside the presidential residence of Mezhyhirya in the village Petrivtsi on June 6.
"Unfortunately, I have heard about the court’s decision only today. It wasn’t a right thing to do. I’m an ordinary person just like everybody else. It’s just my time is very limited, as always. When I have time, I will invite you for tea, we’ll talk," Yanukovych said at a meeting with managers of major Ukrainian media and well-known journalists on the occasion of the Journalist’s Day.
He also urged the media to cooperate in building the future of Ukraine and developing civil society, the presidential Web site reported.
"I would like us to find a common language, build the future of our country, that civil society we are talking much about… We are walking this path together," Yanukovych said.
Kyiv District Administrative Court issued a ban on holding a protest outside the presidential residence in Mezhyhirya on June 6 by the Stop Censorship! Movement.
On June 4, 2010, at a press conference, President Yanukovych invited reporters to his residence, but the visit failed to take place due to an alleged shortage of buses, and was not rescheduled.
A year later, the Stop Censorship! Movement announced its intention to hold a protest at Mezhyhirya on June 6, 2011.
Watch video: Journalists are waiting for Yanukovych at Mezhyhiria; Yanukovych’s cortege
