The Ministry of Internal Affairs will report quarterly on the investigation of crimes against journalists
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Gerashchenko and Chairman of the National Police Igor Klymenko will coordinate the efforts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Police to respond effectively to the facts of obstruction of journalistic activity.
The relevant instructions were given by the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov during a meeting with the chairman of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Sergey Tomilenko, with whom the preparation for the upcoming parliamentary hearings on the safety of journalists, which will be held on November 6, was discussed.
The structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will appoint high-level persons responsible for the effectiveness of the investigation of crimes against journalists, and regularly report on efforts to protect media — the main initiatives of the NJU, which since July 2017 demanded the appointment of special parliamentary hearings on the safety of journalists.
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs is open to dialogue on improving the security of Ukrainian journalists. We set the task of the National Police to introduce a regime of effective operational response to the facts of obstruction of journalists,” Arsen Avakov stressed.
Also, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs agreed to provide a personal response to the list of resonant attacks on journalists in the regions prepared by the NJU.
“The profession of a journalist in Ukraine is dangerous, and impunity for attacks is systemic. The purpose of both parliamentary hearings and our dialogue with the Ministry of Internal Affairs is one — to protect journalists. For this, there should be precedents of effective investigations of attacks on journalists and severe punishment of attackers,” said Serhiy Tomilenko, chairman of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
Among the list of cases that the Ministry of Internal Affairs handed over for careful study by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in particular, the case of the arson of the car of journalist Sergei Guza in Kamensky, Dnipropetrovsk region, the brutal beating of the TV operator Vadim Makariuk in Kharkiv, the attack of radicals on the agency “Ukrinform”, shooting on the press center of the newspaper “Novyi Dag” in Kherson, beating of journalists in Vinnytsia, Chernihiv region, Zhytomyr region and Odesa region. Separately, there should be a proper official investigation into the beating of photokoros Igor Efimov by police officers during Euromaidan in February 2014.
It should be noted that during 9 months of 2019, investigators of the National Police registered 158 criminal offenses. According to the results of the investigation for the specified period of time, indictments were sent to the court in 10 criminal proceedings for 12 criminal offenses. In 156 criminal offenses during the reporting period, investigators decided to close them. The decision to close was agreed with the prosecutor's office.
As of October 10, 2019, there are 260 offenses of this category in the remainder of the investigative units.
