Ukraine

Scarcely veiled death threats have been made against independent journalist Serhiy Lechenko that were expressed by Vyacheslav Pikhovshek, a PR consultant who supports President Viktor Yanukovych, in an opinion piece published in the pro-government newspaper Izvestiya v Ukrayine, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Lechenko is an influential journalist who...

The Kiev administrative supreme court on Wednesday decided to uphold a lower court’s decision to withdraw the over-the-air broadcast frequencies that were assigned to two privately-owned TV stations, TVi and 5 Kanal, in January 2010, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The lower court’s decision was issued on June 8, 2010 in response to a complaint by...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the escalation of violence against media after a series of attacks against journalists by protection officers of both Ukrainian President and Prime Ministers in recent months. Other journalists have also bee victims of similar assaults by lower ranking officials. "We condemn this mindless violence against journalists who are only...

Ukraine’s administrative supreme court has begun examining the appeals of privately-owned TV stations TVi and 5 Kanal against the withdrawal of their over-the-air broadcast frequencies and licences, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. TVi and 5 Kanal are appealing against a June 8 decision by a Kiev administrative court stripping them of their frequencies...

The Ukrainian attorney-general’s office announced Tuesday that the investigation into the role that Gen Oleksiy Pukach, a former intelligence officer, played in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in September 2000 in Kiev has been completed and that the case is being set to trial. Significantly, the statement added that investigators had not succeeded in building a case against any other...

A Ukrainian television station, which had its broadcast frequencies cancelled over allegations of irregularities in the manner in which the stations were awarded their licences, has decided not to abide by the decision and will continue its terrestrial broadcasts. Channel ТVі called the action by the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting - which issues the licences -...

Former interior minister Yuri Kravchenko, who took his own life in unclear circumstances in 2005, was the sole instigator of the September 2000 abduction and murder of opposition journalist Georgiy Gongadze, the Ukraine attorney-general’s office announced on September 14, saying the pre-trial investigation into the case was now virtually concluded. An online newspaper editor who was very critical...

A witness in the case of missing editor Vasyl Klymentyev has also gone missing, according to Petro Matvienko, deputy editor-in-chief of Noviy Stil newspaper. Matvienko refused to name the witness in order to avoid compromising the investigation, according to a report released by the UNIAN news agency. He also refused to cite the source for his information but said he had verified it. He said that...

The International Press Institute (IPI) has expressed grave concern for the state of media freedom in Ukraine after a court ruling forced one TV station off the air and limited the licences of another. At a hearing in Kiev on Monday, August 30, the two privately-run TV channels, TVi and 5 Kanal, were told their broadcast frequencies would be cancelled after the court found in favour of allegations...

President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is taking control of the case of an investigative journalist who has gone missing. In that role, Yanukovych ordered top law enforcement officials on Friday to "make every possible and impossible effort" to find Vasyl Klymentyev, the editor of a newspaper in the eastern city of Kharkiv. Klymentyev, chief editor and reporter for the Kharkiv-based weekly...