Ukraine 2012 press freedom violations

One more newspaper in Kharkiv region, Zmiyivskyi Currier, is under the threat of being closed. Zmiyivskyi Regional Court in Kharkiv region made a decision about violation of law About Elections by Zmiyivskyi Currier. According to the Court decision they violated Part 7, Art. 74 of the Law that says about rules of election campaign and usage of printed Media during this period. The result of this decision will be suspension of the newspaper certificate during the election campaign.

On September, 3, 2012, at the World Press Congress in Kyiv, security guards grabbed the posters from the hands of Olena Prytula, an Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda, and Kateryna Horchynska, an Editor-in-Chief of Kyiv Post, during the speech of Victor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine. The posters said Stop Censorship! in Russian and English.

In August of 2011, unknown assailants set fire to the apartment of Novosti Donbass journalist Oleksiy Matsuka, leaving a funeral wreath with note on the door that read "To Oleksiy, from grieving friends." The case is still open.

Journalists of the State TV and Radio Company Crimea weren't twice allowed to the briefing of Vitalii Klychko. On September, 16, 2012, press secretary of Crimean Republic organization of the Party Udar didn't allow the the crew of the State TV and Radio Company Crimea to go to the briefing saying that they needed to be accredited, though the press announcement, sent on September, 14, 2012, by the press service of the organization, said that accreditation to all the events is made on August, 31, 2012 till 6 p.m.

On September, 20, Iryna Fedoriv, a journalist of CTB and a deputy of Kotsiubynske Village Council, got a call from an unknown man, who threatened her and her family and demanded to stop her journalist activities. Fedoriv associates these threats with her coverage of the issue of illegal privatization of the lands in the Bilichi forests.

During September some journalists couldn't get to the press conferences of Victor Yushchenko and Vitalii Klychko. Thus, in Lviv, the journalists were asked to show their passports to get to the press conference of Yushchenko and in Lutsk, only necessary journalists were allowed to visit his press conference. A rep of Nasha Ukraina explained: It is a pre election campaign and we ourselves will decide what journalists we want to see or not.

The cases of attack to the journalists associated with the pre election campaign were also recorded. Thus, in Kysorychi, Rivne region, Yuriy Mochaev, a journalist of the newspaper Tochhka OPORY, was pushed out from the meeting of Mykila Soroka, an Ex Governor of Rivne region, Deputy Rector of the National University of Water Management and Nature and a candidate from the Party of Regions. After the beginning of the meeting Soroka's assistant came to Mochaev and demanded to stop recording and leave the meeting room. The journalist refsed and then the man closed the camera himself and by force pushed Mochaev from the room. In the corridor they warned him if he didn't stop recording, he risked to stay without his camera and health.

Valerii Moshenskii, a parliamentary candidate at the constituency 108 (Krasny Luchm Perevalsk district, Lugansk region) and a deputy of Kyiv Council, a leader of the Fraction Block Lytvyna, injured Ivan Zheved, a journalist of the Internet publication Molod-news and an activist of the Chesno Movement. Zheved was recording the meeting of Valerii Moshenskii with the electorate. When the journalist came to the candidate and started recording him, Moshenskii tried to knock the camera out. The journalist wanted to clear out the situation, but Moshenskii punched the journalist in the groin.

In Artemivsk, Donetsk region, Serhiy Furmaniuk, a journalist of the Internet publication Ostrov, was brutally pushed out of the room, where the meeting of Serhiy Kliuev took place. The journalist's shirt was torn, when he tried to omit a man, who didn't allow him to enter the room. I took a place in the first raw. The meeting was delayed and I went to the hall to find out what was going on. I saw that all was fine and decided to come back to the room. There I was identified as not loyal journalist and one of the leaders of the local quarters of Serhiy Kliuev didn't allow me to enter the room, - said Furmaniuk. I showed my journalist ID and said that his actions were illegal and he violated my professional rights. He brutally pushed me out. When I tried to omit him, he pulled me and tore my shirt. The police was there, but nobody interfered, - added Furmaniuk.

There was one more case of a journalist assault associated with the land issue. Thus, in Ternopil region at the session of Butsniv Village Council, the deputies carried the journalist of one of the Internet publication out of the room, when they started to discuss land issue. The journalist was observing the session, but when they came to the land issue, the Head advised the journalist to leave the room. He refused and then several deputies took him by hands and legs an carried out. They damaged his camera and caused injuries.

In Luhansk region, David Bliadze, a deputy from the Party of Regions, threatened to cut off the heads of the journalists and after such communication the journalist of RTV of Rovenky got to the hospital. The deputy was also arguing, swearing and threatening, when the journalists asked him why some of the diary stalls were demounted at the local market.

It is worth mentioning the pressure of TVi, who were banned to continue their functioning without a special permission of the Ministry of Economic Development and trade of Ukraine. The reason of such actions was debt of $2,000 to APTN (Associated Press Television News), repaid long ago.

Court appeals to Media and journalists are associated, in most cases, with the pre election campaign. Thus, Lev Myrymskyi, a parliamentary candidate, demanded to abolish license for TV Broadcasting of the State TV and Radio Company Crimea up to the end of the election campaign. The deputy thinks that on August, 16, 2012, during the broadcasting of the spontaneous meeting in the program Chas Nivyn on air there were anti election campaign actions against him as a candidate. But Kyiv District Court of Simferopol declined the laim in fuul.

Olksiy Leliuk, a Head of the State Agency of Reserves of Ukraine and a parliamentary candidate from the Party of Regions, appealed to Court with the requirement to recognize false the article about him in the regional newspaper Poltavska Dumka – 2000 and ban this newspaper publication up to the end of the election campaign. The article from September, 6, 2012, was a repost of Volodymyr Orehovych's notes from the blog at the site of the Internet publication Correspondent Why You Shouldn't Vote for Leliuk, a Deputy of Three Convocations? The Court recognized false the information about Leliuk in the newspaper Poltavska Dumka. Leliuk also appealed against Poltava newspaper Gazety Po-Ukrainsky for the interview with Vitaliy Tokov, a rep of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, where the latter said that Leliuk gave sweets and flour from the State Reserves of Ukraine to his voters.

In Oleksandriya, District Court declared illegal activities of the local newspaper Vilne Slovo, that published pre election campaign materials to support Liudmyla Davydenko, the First Deputy Head of City Council and a parliamentary candidate, and also published negative information about other candidates. The publication received a warning from the Court and in case of the repeated violation of the Law of Ukraine on Elections of the Parliamentary Deputies of Ukraine the publication can be stopped up to the end of the election process.

Кvladyslav Atroshenko, a parliamentary candidate at the constituency №206, appealed against Chernihiv newspaper Sivershchyna for publication a set of articles as to his possible involvement into disappearing of TVi Channel from the cable network Osnova. Atroshenko demanded to recognize false the facts, described in the articles, namely, the fact that he is an owner of the company Osnova, that stopped broadcasting the channel. The other demand was to stop publication of the newspaper up to the end of the election process.

Oleh Liashko, a Leader of the Radical Party, appealed to Court with the demand to stop publication of the Internet publication Vysokyi Val up to the end of the election process. The reason was an article Liashko is Called “a Rooster” in Borozniansk Region, published on September, 11, 2012. He appealed to Court not against the publication itself, but the hosting provider of the site with the demand to temporarily switch off the resource from the network.

Court decided that information, published in the article Pochalosia! on August, 3, 2012, was slanderous and invalid, and actions of newspaper office were rough violation of the Law of Ukraine About Elections of Deputies. In the article of Osobystyi Pogliad newspaper they said about leaflets with anti-election campaign information about Dmytro Voitseh that were spread in Irpin. On the leaflets the candidate is depicted in Nazi uniform. Below the photo it was written that Voitseh betrayed the Party of Regions. In the newspaper this leaflet was printed as an illustration to the article that contained thoughts who could have ordered the leaflets and why to use such dirty political technologies.

One of the resonant and absurd enough cases was intimidation of Maryna Frolova, a blogger from Lugansk, who in her blog spread candid photo of Svitlana Yepifantseva, a deputy of Dnipropetrovsk City Council from the Party of Regions. Yepifantseva herself posted her photo in underwear for free access in the social network. Despite this fact, she threatened to call Frolova to Court and fine her $1100 for moral damages. The deputy threatened Frolova with problems, because by reposting the photo she offended the Party of Regions.

Among the cases of intimidation there also was a shocking case when Volodymyr Borysenko, a deputy of Lohvytsk Regional Council (Poltava Region), threatened with physical assault to Serhiy Kiva, a reporter of regional newspaper Focus. Kiva investigated situation about absence of central water supply in Mehedivka village in Lohvytsk region. Local people told Kiva that only Borysenko decides whom to give water in the village. Kiva mentioned that Borysenko was not happy with the fact that these words were recorded. Borysenko stated that he will take me,::text like others, and throw into the pit and bury – said Kiva.

Among the case of censorship we can mention the incident that happened on August, 8, Kateryna Samoilyk, a candidate for deputies from the Communist Party, prohibited Tetiana Zhuchenko, a journalist in Kherson, to be present and make photos and videos at the meeting with people in Myrne village, Kalanchatskyi district, Kherson region. Samoilyk said that she didn’t allow to make photos and videos of herself because she is still an acting deputy and it is necessary to take special permission for making photos and videos.

With the beginning of the election campaign journalists cannot bare the pressure of the authorities and the Party of Regions with the demand to give only positive information. Thus, because of censorship and refusal to serve to the Party of Regions, on August, 9, Olha Hodovenko and Olha Komarova, the journalists, resigned fron MIG Channel (Yuzhne city, Odesa region). They indicated the reason of the resignation as owner’s representatives (of the TV channel – edit.) recommended to serve the interests of a definite political force.

Moreover, Nataliia Sokolenko, a journalist of CTB, also resigned because of censorship. As the reason of her actions she wrote I cannot participate anymore in cheating millions of people. I myself haven’t prepared any story either about Korolevska, or Yanukovych, Azarov, Klymenko and others. But I feel ashamed anyway. That is why I resigned myself – wrote Sokolenko in her blog.

Another case of censorship on TV channels and absence of freedom of speech was with Andriy Parubiy, a deputy from the Opposition, who was prohibited to speak about politics. Before the program at one State TV channel in Dnipropetrovsk, he was given a reminder, where they indicated the issues TO BE discussed and NOT TO BE discussed in the studio. It was written that the candidates for deputies have no right to discuss current political situation, express their own opinion as to reforms and innovations; and if a deputy violates these defined by the Law rules of communication, then discussion should be directed into the legitimate mainstream – said Parubiy.

On August, 28, 2012, there was a search in the office of the Internet publication Glavnoe, that belongs to Arsen Avakov, a deputy of Kharkiv Regional Council, Batkivshchyna Party, and a candidate. The office of Glavnoe is situated in Kharkiv in one building with Investor Ltd and Basis Bank, the owner of which is also Avakov. It worth mentioning that there was a criminal case against Avakov and he is in search. At the moment Avakov is in Italy.

Among the cases concerning obstruction to professional activities we can mention the case that shows attitude to the journalists. In Vinnytsia region, on August, 15, 2012, while reporting in Karmaliukove village, Zhmerynka region, a businessman attacked Vasyl Menovshchikov, a camera man of Inter Channel, and threw at him canister with oil. Camera crew was recording a story basing on the claim of two people who stated that Vasyl Bondarchuk, a local farmer, by force hold them in labour slavery.

Basil Klimentiev’s murder is solved. The journalist was abducted and murdered in August of 2010.

Tetiana Chornovil, a journalist, was arrested near Mezhygirria for a poster Yanukovych, language is your sentence. Don’t sign!

In Donetsk they arrested journalist Catherine Chepuru, who was recording the process of spreading leaflets against the Party of Regions, reported Novosti Donbass.

In Kyiv the owner of a restaurant assaulted journalists of TVi.

A member of the Party of Regions threatens a journalist Marina Frolova with $1100 fine for reposting her photo on social networks.

A Lexus attempted to run over a journalist of the regional newspaper Vechirni Cherkasy.

MP of Lokhviskiy District Council (Poltava region) Vladimir Borisenko threatened physical harm to Sergei Kiwi, correspondent of the regional newspaper Focus.

The camera of a Dorozhnyi Control journalist was damaged when he was attacked by unknown assailants.

Pechersky District Court of Kyiv refused to allow cameras in the courtroom during the Yuri Lutsenko case. This decision was made by Judge Anna Medushevska August 10, 2012, during the trial.
 

On August 10, 2012, the Head of Housing for Kerch city council from the party "Russian Unity," Dmitriy Sheremet, behaved aggressively and insulted journalists of the site Kerch.FM, not allowing them to film illegal acts in a local park.
 

Undoubtedly, in July, the most serious case was about restriction of journalists’ access to their place of work in the Parliament. Thus, on July, 3, in Verhovna Rada, the guards didn’t allow Media representatives to enter the press box in the Parliament to unable the observation of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov’s meeting with the reps of parliamentary majority fraction.

On the next day, there was another significant example for freedom of speech situation in Ukraine. On July, 4, the journalists that came to press conference of Victor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine, were not allowed to enter Ukrainskyi Dim in spite of the fact that the event was cancelled.

Svitlana Martynets, a journalist of Express newspaper in Zhovkva, Lviv region, was assaulted. According to the newspaper, on July, 6, 2012, their journalist was assaulted by people disguised as members of Dognala religious group. Express newspaper wrote numerous articles on their journalist investigations about these sectarians. This year in June sectarians captured the newspaper office and blocked the work and publication.

In Kotovsk, Odesa region, on the night of July, 9, 2012, unknown assailants targeted the house of Anatoliy Tiora, a local journalist of Vyborchkom newspaper, and attacked it with bottles filled with exploding mixture.

On July, 9, 2012, Mykyta Serheenko, a senior lieutenant in Shevchenkivskyi District police station in Odesa, attacked Oleksandr Horodilov, an editor of Odesa information site 048.ua. Serheenko grabbed Horodilov's videocamera and threw it against the asphalt.

On July, 10, 20112 in Chortkiv, Ternopil region, Lidia Kviatkovska, a judge of the local court, was scared of an interview and ordered the guards to lock a journalist of ICTV in her office. She also tried to take away a camera from an operator.

Among the cases of causing pressure, the resonant incident happened on July, 5, 2012 in Zaporizhia, were the independent Subbota Plus newspaper wasn't released. Publishing house Keramist refused to print it because of the article about Eugen Anisimov, a businessman, who is considered to be a “supervisor” of the Party of Regions in Zaporizhia.

During the protest against the Law about languages on July, 4, near Ukrainskyi Dim, the unknown damaged a signal cable for transmitting current (40W) of Pershyi Nationalnyi Channel, who were broadcasting the event on air .

In Kyiv on July, 12, Media circles were shocked by the news that tax inspectors came to TVi to seize the documents while during the third quarter the moratorium on Media audit has been in action. Oleh Radchenko, Deputy GM on legal issues of TVi, informed IMI that tax inspectors came to the channel upon an order of an investigator from tax police, who initiated a criminal case against Mykola Kniazhytskyi for hiding income from taxation.

July, 30, 2012, In Kyiv the guards of one of the delegates of Region Party meeting attacked Mustafa Naem. The incident happened near the exhibition center, where the meeting took place, when a car with guards clipped Naem’s bike and threw obscene words at him.

When the journalist came to ask who was in the car, a guard came out, grabbed Naem’s phone and, swearing, pushed him away. After that another guard took the phone, deleted video made by a journalist and handed it back.

In Vetly village, Volyn region (motherland of Adam Martyniuk, the First Deputy of a Head of Verhovna Rada), unknown men attacked the activists of Vidsich movement and journalists of Perets Volynsky and beat them.

The activists of the Movement, who within a campaign Pomsta za Rozkol Krainy spread the leaflets why not to vote for Martyniul at the electorate №23, called journalists. 6 offenders beat activists and journalists, damaged call phone and recorder and also made attempts to break a camera.

July, 31, 2012, In Uzhgorod a guard of Nataliia Panova, a Head of State Executive Service in Zakarpattia region, assaulted Vitaliy Holub, an editor of Vsia Zakarpatska Pravda, a Deouty Head of civic organization Antycoruptsia.

In the morning journalist was recording events on Shandora Petefi Square within a frame of a journalist investigation. A man approached him and started to punch him into his chest, trying to take away a camera. In a while, Nataliia Panova, a Head of State Executive Service in Zakarpattia region, came to them. She hasn’t made any attempts to stop her subordinate. On the contrary, she encouraged him to continue the process of beating and threatened him by herself.

Holub associates these actions only with his professional activities, as they are involved in anticorruption journalist investigation. We have information that can cause suspicions innataliia Panova work. I am in good mood and will continue investigation – said Vitaliy Holub.

June, 20, 2012, Maksym Kasianov, a journalist of Donetsk Internet Publication Korrdon.info, claimed that he was attacked by unknown men when he was filming the car of Andriy Shyshatskyi, a Head of Donetsk Region Administration. The journalist wrote a statement about the attack and violation to his professional activities from the side of Shyshatskyi’s guardians. Later Kasianov refused in a written form advocate services and sincerely confessed his assassination attempt on Shashytskyi’s life after his being in Voroshylovskyi District Police Department in Donetsk.

June, 5, 2012, Nastia Stanko, a TVi journalist, was poisoned by tear gas and was almost trampled down in the crowd near Verhovna Rada during the protest against Kivalov-Kolisnichenko Law about language.

On June 9, 2012, during public hearings regarding a conservation park in Donetsk, an unknown person snatched from the hands of a journalist and blogger Paul Kolesnik his smartphone.

On the night of June, 11, 2012, unknown men broke the windows in the apartment of Yulia Krasiy, a journalist of Svativski Vidomosti (Lugansk region), who writes about crimes. The journalist and her colleagues relate this incident to her professional activities.

On June, 11, 2012, In Kyiv, an unknown man broke a camera of TSN's crew, when they filmed how a driver was assaulting an elderly man, who was jeopardizing his life and was nearly run over.

June, 12, 2012, Obolon District Prosecution in Kyiv started a criminal case on the assault of an operator of Novyi Channel. It was found out that a citizen of Kyiv region started to punch an operator and damaged a company car. The offender was arrested and a criminal case according to p. 1 Art. 296 CC of Ukraine – hooliganism.

June, 13, 2012, In Simferopol near Russian Consulate General one of the visitors attacked an operator of Crimean TV channel ATR. The incident happened during shooting a picket to support Russian National Movement and Marsh of Millions.

June, 15, 2012, during the meeting of Kotovsk City Council, deputies of Region Party according to directive of Petro Obertaylo, a secretary, attacked Anatoliy Tiora, a journalist, with the aim to drive him out of the room. They tore his shirt, grabbed and threw his case, tore an identification of newspaper Izbercom.

June, 15, 2012, In Lviv more than thirty members of unregistered Dognala Sect captured several offices of newspaper Express and kept them for more than two hours.

June, 18, 2012, In Kyiv region a crew of Hroshi (1+1 Channel) was attacked during shooting a story about lands around the building that, they say, belong to Petro Symonenko. Private guards took away a camera, blocked a car and threatened Mykhaylo Tkach.

June, 27, 2012, In Kyiv Andriy Dzindzia, a journalist of the Internet publication Dorozhniy Control, was attacked and assaulted by the guard of a false police compound in Troeshchyna in the non-existing address. Andriy Dzindzia was deliberately punched into his face with an elbow by a guard when he tried to found out the reasons of functioning of this false police compound. Police observed the situation but didn’t stop these actions. After a punch a guard continued threatening and using swearing words.

June, 27, 2012, In Brovary, Kyiv region, an unknown man in a uniform with mask attacked Victor Kruk, a journalist of press center of Narodyi Rukh Ukrainy and newspaper Chas Rukhu. Using swearing words, he hit a Kruk’s camera and it switched off. The man also assaulted Inna Saifulina, a journalist of Bratstvo, who was shooting the event. She managed to take away her camera, but her fingers were hurt.

May, 31, 2012, Prosecution General will continue investigation of the case about attack on Vitaliy Lazebnyk, a photographer of the portal Tochka.net, and will decide if Desnianskyi District Prosecution in Kyiv legally refused to start a criminal case according to Art. 171 CC of Ukraine – obstruction to journalist activities.

June, 8, 2012, Andriy Shariy, a journalist, who was granted asylum in Lithuania, stated that the Ministry of Internal Affairs threatened him with criminal cases against his wife, who lives in Ukraine.

June, 20, 2012, Members of Dognala Sect have stopped the work of newspaper Express, by blocking the only passage to the offices and as a result, the schedule of publications of 18 regional newspapers was changed. Journalists ask the police to start a criminal case as these are the acts of breaking public order, blocking transportation and obstruction to their professional activities.

June, 22, 2012, Luhansk region Prosecution haven’t noticed any obstruction to journalist activities of Luhansk IRTA channel crew. It is said in the response of regional prosecution to Yuriy Stets, a Head of the Committee of Freedom of Speech and Information.

It is worth mentioning that on April, 6, 2012, Luhansk police arrested journalists of Lugansk IRTA channel for 2 hours and demanded to destroy video of how executive service takes away a car of one of the employee of the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons at the MIA in Luhansk region.

June, 6, 2012, The guards of Andriy Aliosha, a famous Donetsk businessman and a Deputy, didn’t allow Oleksiy Matsutsia, a journalist of Novosti Donbasa, to make video near and in the building of City Council.

June, 6, 2012, Kyiv District Administrative Court didn’t allow any actions of Stop Censorship planned for June, 6, in the village Novi Petrivtsi, near the President residence Mezhygiria.

June, 6, 2012, Oleksandr Romanenko, a Head of Stara Syniava village Council, caused obstruction to TVi journalist activities by not allowing them to cover the meeting of Budgeting Committee.

June, 20, 2012, After the concert of Hugh Laurie, a British actor and musician, the guards interfere journalists to make video. The incident happened near the backdoor of Ukraina Palace. Pavlo, Miasnov, an operator of 1+1 channel, was making a video of other journalists and fans from the distance. A person without any ID stopped the process though other operators continued shooting and Miasnov himself was out of the territory of Ukraina Palace.

June, 26, 2012, United Opposition Batkivshchyna, was outraged because of the next denial of Inter Channel to give time on air to Arseniy Yatsenniuk, a Head of united Opposition Council, a leader of Front Zmin Party.

June, 28, 2012, The fan-zone guards in Khreshchatyk in Kyiv, interfere the work of Oksana Denysova, a journalist of Ukrainska Pravda. She was pushed out of the fan zone, though she showed her editorial badge, received in a fan-zone press center. A journalist was pushed away after she tried to make videos and photos of one of the Femen activists, who during Italy-Germany match broadcasting went up the stairs near the main screen of z fan-zone.
 

June, 5, 2012, Artem Shevchenko, a TVi journalist, was interrogated in the Central Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine as a witness in the criminal case №755, started according to Art. 258 and 263 CC of Ukraine about terrorist actions in Dnipropetrovsk on April, 27, 2012.

The interrogation was about my work in the investigation program Znak Oklyku at TVi channel and also the story that was on air on Mat, 7, 2012 and was devoted to the issues of terrorist explosions in Dnipropetrovsk – wrote Andriy in his blog.

2.04.2012 In Mykolaiv, Vitaliay Kosenko, a journalist of Road Control (Dorozhniy Control), was deliberately run over by a car.

6.04.2012 In Lugansk, journalists of IRTA TV company were arrested during filming.

17.04.2012 Oleksandr Sin, a Mayor of Zaporizhia, denied access of journalists to weekly meetings with the Heads of Departments in the Town Hall.

20.04.2012 In Cherkasy, journalists were asked to leave the meeting with Serhiy Tigipko in 15 min after its beginning.

25.04.2012 The editor of Internet publication Ukrainian Truth (Ukrainska Pravda) was interrogated about Georgiy Gongadze’s murder in 2000.

25.04.2012 Pechersk District Court in Kyiv interrogated Olena Prytula, an editor of Internet publication Ukrainian Truth (Ukrainska Pravda), about the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.

Valentyna Telychenco, an advocate of Gongadze widow, informs that they had to hear 13 witnesses and Mrs Prytula was the first. All the rest are the former and present employees of intelligence agencies and Ministry of Internal Affairs.

March, 1, 2012 Camera crew of «1+1» channel and journalists of Dumskaya.net were excluded from a delegation to Georgia by Oleksiy Kostusev, a Mayer of Odesa.

March, 16, 2012 In Kyiv, during shooting in Crystal hall club, camera crew of Trump Life (Kozyrne zhyttia) of ICTV channel was attacked by Oleksandr Kazhyian, a PR-manager of Secret Service publicity agency. The incident happened to Tetiana Tretiak, a journalist of the program, and Ruslan Tarasov, a reporter of Maximum in Ukraine program, after recording an interview with reps
 

March, 21, 2012 In Kharkiv, there was one more attempt to intimidate Olena Barannyk, a director of A/TVC channel, which was blocked in the fall of 2011.

March, 23, 2012 In Kharkiv, there was one more attempt to intimidate Irena Rubashko, a director of Fora channel.

On the same day Sviatoslav Pogranychny, an editor of Judicial and Legal Newspaper, was abused.

March, 24, 2012 Rostyslav Shaposhnikov, a co-founder Road Control (Dorozhny Kontrol) Internet newspaper, was attacked and assaulted. The incident happened at around 11:00 when Roctyslav approached his car. Two strangers attacked him and by force pulled him into a car Jeep Grand Cherokee. There were two more people who drove Rostyslav outside Kyiv, assaulted and threw
onto the road. Passing by bicyclists noticed him and called an ambulance. Victim told police that abusers took away some of his possessions as well. Desnisnsky regional police office started a criminal case according to p. 2 art. 186 (robbery).

March, 23, 2012 Sviatoslav Pogranychny, an editor of Judicial and Legal Newspaper, was attacked and seriously injured. The incident happened in his private house. It is known that an abuser owned black Subary Forester АА 8999 НА. General Directory of Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv region verified investigation of all circumstances of attacking the journalist.
 

March, 16, 2012 State Prison Service refused a UNIAN reporter and other journalists to visit prison in Kachanivka, where Yulia Tymoshenko, ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine, is kept.

February, 6, 2012 In Kyiv, Vynogradar region, during public patrolling by inhabitants some action connected with installation of small architectural forms (SAF) on the children and sports playgrounds, a journalist, filming the process, was abused.

Representative of building company punched into her face Oksana Romaniuk, a journalist, a rep of International journalist organization Reporters Without Borders, who was filming the process of illegal actions on her cell phone.

Inhabitants asked builders to show permissions for their actions on the territory with children and sports playgrounds.
Mrs Romaniuk wrote a statement to police. Police fixed the facts and freed the abuser.

February, 8, 2012 Journalist of Gazeta.ua from Lviv and Rivne were interrogated in the process of investigation of two criminal cases concerning damage of big boards with the picture of Victor Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine.

Editors of Gazeta.ua stresses out that the journalists did their duty when wrote about the incident of damaging boards in Lviv and Kostopil (Rivne region).

Eugene Borisov, a freelance reporter from Lviv, who sent the article to Gazeta.ua, was already interrogated on January, 20, 2012. He said that it took four hours. The first thing asked was if he knew how police tortures people. After that the investigator described that process in details. He also advised the journalist to admit the fact that it was he, who damaged the board and in such a way he could become famous and policemen would close the case ASAP.

Mr Borisov mentioned that policemen took away his cell phone explaining that it was done to check if it wasn’t stolen. “They returned it to me in 30 min, but copied my numbers database. Borisov’s friends receive calls from police and they are also called to be interrogated’ – informed the journalist.
The second case investigates the same incident in Rivne region. February, 6, 2012 Victor Homol, the other reporter, was called to police.

February, 12, 2012 In Zhytomyr during the meeting of the district election commission on the eve of pre-term elections to Zhytomyr Regional Council (41 majoritarian constituency) A.Melnychuk, a deputy head of the commission, was drunk and attacked the journalists.

The incident happened when Cydir Kizin, a candidate from Svoboda, came to the meeting of the commission with the act of Court of Appeal, which demanded to register 38 official observers from Svoboda.

According to Oleksandr Aronets, a freelance reporter of ІМІ, reps of the commission within 10 min voted against the legal act. Afterwards, they didn’t::text like the presence of journalists and Mrs Leshchenko, a lawyer, having seen that a journalist was filming on his cell phone and trying to call the police, tried to take away the phone and slapped him in the face. Then a rep from Region Party joined the fighting and Melnychuk was damaging a camera of Prohor Antonenko, another reporter of newspaper Svoboda.
Police came in 30 min. The abused wrote a statement about obstruction of doing their professional duties and also illegal actions of the representatives of the commission.

February, 17, 2012 In Stryy (Lviv region) during the telephone conversation with Roman Zubrytsky, a head of regional department of State Service Combating Economic Crimes, a journalist of local newspaper Kolovorot got threatens instead of answers to his questions. Roman Rak, an editor-in-chief of Kolovorot, informed us about it.

The incident happened of Feb, 6, when Tetiana Mykhats, a journalist, wile writing about coal case, asked Roman Zubrytsky to comment.

Mr Zubrytsky apologized, but only after the fact, when Tetiana Mykhats expressed orally her complaint to Ihor Marad, a head of military service in Sambir.

Roman Rak wrote statements about threatens to the internal security service of the organization and to Lviv Prosecution.

February, 28, 2012 In Brovary district (Kyiv region) on the territory of the Zalissia National park Victor Kaminetsky, a director, tried to damage the equipment of journalists from TVi (Znak Oklyke (Exclamation Mark) program about investigation).

The journalists wanted to receive comments about not following the Presidential decree №1049 (Dec, 11, 2009), according to which the National park had to be opened on the territory of Zalissia.

After several requests to stop filming, a director started pulling camera, tried to damage a microphone and after that he left his office. Dmytro Gnap, a journalist, informed us about it. According to him, the program editors plan to write a statement to police and prepare the investigation of the mentioned above issue.

January, 16, 2012 Representatives of the Office of State Guard of Ukraine didn’t allow TVi journalists to videotape Victor Yanukovych leaving the residence Mezhyhirria, according to Anastasia Stanko, a TVi journalist.

January, 24, 2012 Journalists, who were filming the expired products in Donetsk supermarket, were punched by the guards and risked to have their cameras broken.
The incident happened in Sokil shopping center during the promotion Ukraine Without Slaves, the goal of which was to protect consumers’ rights in questions of expired products. The participants tried to film the products.

The guards of Sokil pushed out and abused four people: Pavlo Kolesnyk, a journalist, Stanislav Fedorchuk, a public figure, Bohdan Butkevych, a reporter, and Andriy Lomakin, a cameraman. Moreover, they also tried to take away their possessions. All of them wrote a statement to police. Now police are investigating the case.

January, 29, 2012 In Donetsk unknown attacked the journalists during Commemoration Day of Krug Heroes.
Swearing stranger hit a jоurnalist of the Internet newspaper Donbas News and as the result of it a camera was damaged. Afterwards, he abused another journalist and kicked his camera.

Kyrylo Rybakov, a leader of Donets regional political party Russian Coalition (Risiysky Block), was there and stated that he came just to observe the event.

Several more journalists were abused at that time. Ihor Tkachenko, a cameraman, was hit in his jaw and his camera was damaged, Oleksiy Matsutsia, an editor-in-chief of Donbas News, had his video equipment damaged. Other journalists were threatened by pro-Russian organizations and journalists. Four people were arrested.

December, 23, 2011 Oleg Deineka, a journalist and presenter of the program Money, channel "1+1", was put aside from his work and his story about corruption in Khmelnytsky Regional State Administration was not on air.

Press service of "1+1" commented that the program Money paid too much attention to the actions of the head of Khmelnytsky Regional State Administration. During the year the program showed two stories and several news in the result o which Vasyl Yaduha became a leader of being mentioned in public.

Press service of "1+1" informs that program editors and legal department came up with mutual decision to postpone development of reports about Mr Yaduha until the end of the investigation conducted by General Prosecution by the President’s order.

Moreover, the parliamentary committee in questions of freedom of speech and information has several requests as to the set of stories from Khmelnytsky and about Mr Yaduha in terms of meeting journalist standards.

On Oct. 17, journalists Odessa region stated that they fear for their lives after they began to investigate cases of illegal allocation of land on the Black Sea coast of the region. At a press conference the chief editor of the online publication "Bessarabia - INFORM" Irina Zolotarev said here and journalist Vitaly Rajnov of Akkermanskyh West "were beaten, intimidated, and our cars were burned. I do not know whether we will remain alive after this press conference," said Zolotarev.

According to Zolotarev, threats started coming when she wrote an article on the allocation of Council Bay Resort Village (Odesa region), part of the Black Sea coast cooperative "Riviera".

The most resonant case of censorship was a statement of five editors of UNIAN site, who on October, 26, 2012 stated about censorship from Vadym Osadchyi, a UNIAN GM. Journalist community, who get to know about UNIAN censorship from the news, was astonished by the fact that the editors found courage to publish this statement. They say that the reason of these actions were fines (200 hrn) of two editors for publishing on the site the news under the title The picket on Bankova: Yanukovych was presented a shoe with a New Year tree. The editors informed that they got a directive not to publish negative news about Victor Yanukovych, the President. The statement was signed by such editors as Liubov Zhalovaha, Valentyna Romanenko, Nataliia Ovdienko, Roman Romaniuk and Nataliia Neherey. This statement shocked journalist community and, as a result, a journalist movement Stop Censorship! demands the Administration of the President to name those people, who directed UNIAN to write about Yanukovych only in a positive way. From the other side, GM of UNIAN stated that there is no censorship on the site and mentioned that the employees didn't realize the difference between objectivity and subjectivity. To answer this statement the UNIAN editors gave examples of censorship: Jeansa of Petro Symonenko, a leader of the Communist Party, and Oleksandr Tretiakov, a parliamentary deputy; prohibition on publishing news about candidates from opposition such as Oles Doniy and Volodymyr Ar'ev.

On October, 8, 2012, Verhovna Rada of Ukraine addressed Yuriy Stets, a Head of the VR Committee on freedom of speech and information, with the request to discuss appropriateness of presence of Serhiy Leshchenko and Mustafa Naem, journalists of Ukrainska Pravda, at the meeting of the Parliament of the next convocation. The reason to deny accreditation to these journalists was the fact that Serhiy Leshchenko and Mustafa Naem put a poster against the Bill on Defamation on the press balcony during the session of VR.

Vitalii Zhuravskyi, an author of the scandal Bill on Criminalization of Defamation and a parliamentary candidate from the Party of Regions, avoids meetings with press. Thus, on October, 17, 2012, the journalists of Channel 5 were not allowed to go to the concert, organized by Zhuravskyi in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region. Oksana Trokoz, a journalist, informed that four people led by a Head of the local Department of Culture closed the door, tried to close camera and pulled away an operator.

On October, 17, 2012, in Horlivka, Donetsk region, strangers damaged the cable on the roof of the building and broke the windows of the local TV company TV-6 after the program about relations between the Ministry of Internal Affairs and local criminals.

On October, 15, 2012, in Berdychiv, Zhytomyr region, strangers assaulted Kostiantyn Kovalenko, a journalist of the Internet publication HolosUA, who was investigating bribing the voters at the constituency 63, where Mykola Petrenko is a candidate. On October, 15, 2012, at around 9.30 p.m. strangers screwed my hands and pushed me into a car, where they beat me and tortured and warned me not to publish information, - said a journalist.

One more incident happened on October, 22, 2012, when Mykola Myronets, a Deputy Head of District Administration in Brovary, pushed Roman Bochkala, a journalist of channel Inter, from the stairs in the building of the administration. The journalist rolled down the stairs and the official said that he didn't touch a journalist. Bochkala together with an operator were recording a story about the events in the  building of culture Prometey on October, 20, 2012, when reps of local authority caused obstructions to the work of journalists and damaged their phones.

On October, 22, 2012, an operating crew of the program Pohliad of Kirovihrad Region State TV and Radio Company (Kyryl Yushchenko, a journalist, and Ivan Fomichenko, an operator) were kept by force in the headquarters of Oleksandr Tabalov, a parliamentary candidate from the Party Batkivshchyna, and they also tried to take away their camera and cassettes. The journalists tried to record the actions of Tabalov, which seemed to be directed at bribing voters , forgery and other violations.

On October, 25, 2012, journalists of Oleksandriya, Kirivohrad region, stated about threats from Serhiy Tsapiuk, for critical publications. Thus, a Mayor threatened after elections to wipe out the publication of the newspaper Horodskoy Currier, TRC Contact-LTD and city web-portal Oleksandriyski Nivyny and to punish journalists of these Media. The journalists investigated violations in the election campaign from the side of Liudmyla Davydenko, a pro-governmental candidate and the first Deputy Mayor, and Serhiy Tsapiuk, who organizes this campaign.

On October, 31, 2012, in Kyiv two journalists that were broadcasting events at the constituency №215 (there was a fight for the place in Rada between Andriy Illenko and Halyna hereha). In the street men (who are thought to be reps of Hereha) sprayed into eyes tear gas. Thus, Maksym Levin, a photo journalist of Lb.ua, suffered from it. They say, that men in sports wear went out of the bus with the sign Epitcenter and sprayed tear gas.

Obstruction to the journalist work during the election campaign is characterized by mass hackers' attacks to the Internet publications, in most cases these are regional publications that wrote critical articles about parliamentary candidates. Thus, on October, 4, 2012 hackers destroyed the site of the Internet publication Provintsiya in Cherkasy. They started to attack the publication on October, 25, 2012. From time to time they managed to work, but when on October, 4, 2012, they changed hosting provider and restarted their work after a one week break, there was again DDOS attack. It turned out that hackers completely deleted the site. Victor Borysov, an Editor-in-Chief of the site, associates the attack with the publication of the article under the title Twice not convicted Reshetniak about Vadym Reshetniak, a Mayor of Smila and a parliamentary candidate, where there were photo copies of sentences that proved the fact of existence of criminal records. Reshetniak himself states that he has nothing to do with the attacks to the site.

On October, 16, 2012, in Odesa, informational and analytical portal Volnorez was attacked by hackers,which they connect to the publication political materials on the site. Namely, there were critical information about Eduard Matviychuk, a governor of Odesa region. The second possible explanation of journalists is the publication of other critical materials, e.g. about scandals in the team of Vitalii Klychko.

On October, 18, 2012, in Mykolaiv, site Nabat was attacked by hackers after the unpleasant material about Mykola Zhuk and Ihor Kopiyka, candidates majoritarians from the Party of Regions. On October, 22, 2012, hackers also attacked the Internet publication Khersonska Pravda. Taras Buzak, an editor of the publication, explains the reason of the attack by information policy of the site, where there are no sweet materials about authority and its representatives. On the same day hackers attacked a portal Pora Hovorit in Odesa. The staff associated it with the political materials, published on the site.

On October, 25, 2012, hackers attacked a site Korabelov.info in Mykolaiv. The publication associated this attack with the publication of the material under the title Lie, which we can not be tolerated (VIDEO) about Artem Iliuk, a parliamentary candidate from the Party of Regions at a single-mandate constituency №128 in Mykolaiv.

On October, 28, 2012, the day of parliamentary elections, we recorded mass hackers attacks to the sites of Opposition in Crimea — Sobytia, TV company Chernomorskaya, and the site of the Center of Journalists' investigations in Crimea. Moreover, hackers broke the site of the Committee of Voters, site of the civic movement OPORA, site Maidan and site of the project Internews-Ukraine ElectUA.org.

On October, 29, 20112, in Irpin, Kyiv region, there was an incident between the journalists and young men, who didn't allow Media reps to enter the constituency №95. It happened after a rep of OSCE tried to enter the building. As a result, a rep of OSCE and a translator were let in, but journalists stayed outside.

On October, 29, 2012, in Odesa, a Head of the Election Commission №511194 at the constituency 134, tried to chase journalists, explaining it by the fact that the journalists disturbed the members of the commission and prevent them from drinking 50 grammes. Beforehand, a Head proposed her colleagues to sign four empty blanks of protocols just in case. Journalists tried to stop violations and that is why a Head made attempts to get rid of them.

On October, 30, 2012, in Kyiv at the constituency №215 the soldiers of Berkut didn't allow journalists to enter the office of the Election Commission №244, where they calculated the voices for Halyna Hereha and Andriy Ilienko. A leader of Berkut ordered the soldiers not to let in any journalist.

On October, 31, 2012, in Kyiv they pushed away all journalists and people from the Election Commission №223, except all its members. All journalists were waiting for reregistration to enter the meeting. During this time a woman tried to leave the building of EC with the protocols.

on October, 4, 2012, Volodymyr Demchuk, a candidate from the Party of Regions, appealed against a newspaper Rivne Vechirne with the demand to stop publication up to the end of elections. The reason of the appeal was inappropriately labeled political advertizing of the Party Udar, which, according to the politician, contained incorrect information about the Party of Regions. Though according to P. 27 Art. 71 Law of Ukraine on Elections of the parliamentary deputies, Media is not responsible for the information if the pre election campaign. On October, 23, 2012, the Court made a decision in favor of the newspaper.

On October, 5, Taras Batenko, a candidate at the constituency 123 in Lviv region, appealed against Lviv Internet publication Varianty. The politician demands to refute the information in the article Charity for the State Expenses, which he considers to be not true and demands to pay him 50,000 hrn compensation for moral damage and expenses for Court and other fees.

In Khust, Zakarpattia region, at the poll station №71 journalists were prohibited to record events that took place in the office. There the competition for a seat in Verhovna Rada was between Pavlo Baloga, a candidate from the Party Yedynyi Center, and Stepan Derkach, a candidate from the Party of Regions.

A scandal at poll station №132 in Mykolayiv, where during announcing the election results the journalists were pushed out from the meeting room. They announced the victory of Vitalii Travianko, a candidate from the Party of Regions, though the Opposition declared falsifications there.

There were cases, when journalists were not allowed to be present at the Court hearings appealing against the election results. Such case happened on November, 8, 2012, when the reporters of all info agencies and printed Media were not allowed to enter the meeting of Kyiv District Administrative Court, explaining by a small room and a lack of space. The Court was regarding an appeal of the Party Batkivshchyna against the poll station №94 as to invalidate the election results at 27 poll stations, constituency №94, where Tetiana Zasuha, a candidate from the PR, has won.

Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal didn't allow Media reps to be present at the hearing of Oleksandr Suprunenko' case against Ksenia Liapina, a candidate from the Opposition, at the constituency №216 in Kyiv.

A case of censorship happened on November, 30, when the TV channel Ukraine cut from TV version of the 12th National TV Laureate Reward Ceremony Teletriumf 2011-2012 the speech of Andriy Kulykov, one of the laureates and a presenter of a talk-show Svoboda Slova at ICTV. They left only thank you words of Myhailo Pavlov, a producer of Svoboda Slova. Thus, the following words were cut: Here, at the stage, there are people coloured blue, red and green. But the orange colour has disappeared and there is no crimson. For all of us it should be a warning, we should not allow disappearing of the colours. We should not allow disappearing of languages from our TV, we should not allow disappearing of our colleagues from our community. In our program we have people of different colours, I mean people of different political views and, perhaps, that is why it is as it is. On the contrary, Serhiy Tovstenko-Zabelin, a Head of the Corporative Cooperation Department of the TV channel Ukraine, mentioned that while editing the ceremony the main factors were temporythm and some artistic value. If for some nomination not only a laureate went up to the stage, but also his colleagues, they put on air the speech of only one, he said. He also added that directors had to edit the words of the ceremony presenters as well.

A resonant case happened on November, 26, when Volodymyr Yakuba, a Head of Sevastopol City State Administration, at the meeting of Administration asked Serhiy Nornanskyi, a General Manager of Sevastopol Region State TV and Radio Company, to increase a number of programs about Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk at the local TV instead of the programs about Western Ukraine. You should feel the issue, because you broadcast “pro-western” programs. Where do you take them? - addressed Yakuba to Normanskyi.

Oleksandr Mamai, a Mayor of Poltava, appealed to Court against Poltava Internet publication Poltavshchyna, and demands 100,000 hrn of compensation for the words he has been on the carpet at President's in one of his articles.

In Luhansk region Olena Chorna, an official of Krasnodonsk District Executive Commission, appealed to Court against Luhansk site 0642 and a newspaper «2000» with the demand to oblige Media to make excuses and pay her a moral compensation of 100,000 hrn for the publication Director of the Museum “Moloda Hvardia” is a Girl with a Look of a 'ViaGra” Group Singer. The article from August, 10, 2012, contained candid pics of Chorna, which she posted in one of the social networks.

Petro Yurchyshyn, a director of Agricultural Research and Production Enterprise Visyt and a candidate at the constituency №13, appealed to Court against Media, who spread not true information about him (according to his words). They say that Yurchyshyn seemed to have destroyed a road in the village Rybchyntsi, which he had repaired by his expenses earlier, after he got to know that he lost parliamentary elections on October, 28, 2012.