The Russian presidential Human Rights Council is worried that the journalists from the Russian TV service LifeNews detained in Ukraine might have been subjected to violence.
Ukrainian security forces detained the LifeNews reporters in
Kramatorsk on the evening of May 18. They were later transported to Kyiv
for questioning.
“We are really concerned about this whole situation. And we hope that
the Ukrainian authorities will facilitate the release of our
journalists,” Human Rights Council Chairman Mikhail Fedotov told
Interfax on Thursday.
Human Rights Council member Maxim Shevchenko is currently in Ukraine
and is trying to help free the journalists, Fedotov said. “Maxim has
expressed concern that the journalists have still not been freed because
they might have been subjected to violence. In other words, they won’t
be freed until the bruises heal up. The fact that the OSCE mission has
still not been provided with access to them speaks for this theory,” he
said.
“The LifeNews journalists are being held by the Kyiv authorities,
despite the fact that everyone understands that they are not spies, not
saboteurs, and not drug dealers. We are worried that over 72 hours have
passed since the moment of their detention, which violates Ukrainian
law,” Fedotov said.
The Human Rights Council also expects assistance from Ukrainian Human
Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska. “She also brought up the issue
of Ukrainian moviemaker Oleh Sentsov detained in Crimea before the Human
Rights Council. We immediately forwarded an appeal to our country’s
competent agencies and expect to receive answers in the near future,” he
said.
