OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic has said she is concerned by the amount of violence used against the media during the demonstrations in Kyiv, reads the report of Mijatovic passed to Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
“I’m especially concerned that in most of the cases, the beatings
were reportedly conducted by the law enforcement officers, who attacked
journalists and disregarded their press identification,” she wrote in a
letter to OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid
Kozhara.
“Violence against journalists cannot be tolerated,” Mijatovic wrote.
She reiterated the call to the Ukrainian authorities to take urgent
action to halt the violence against the media and to swiftly launch
investigations into these attacks.
According to information available to the representative’s office,
more than 40 journalists representing national and international media
outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, Channel 5, 1+1, Euronews, Reuters,
Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, and the New York Times, were
physically assaulted and severely injured while covering the public
protests in Kyiv.
