Demand to Release LifeNews’ Journalists on Russian Duma’s Agenda
“The draft statement was submitted to the Duma by the leaders of four factions and speaker of the lower chamber, Sergei Naryshkin,” The Voice of Russia reported.
“Deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation express their strong protest in connection with the detention of journalists of the LifeNews TV channel, Marat Saichenko and Oleg Sidyakin, by the Ukrainian military on May 18, 2014,” the draft document read.
The deputies noted that Saichenko and Sidyakin were carrying out their professional duties on the coverage of the operations of the Ukrainian security forces in the southeast of Ukraine, and were detained under the false pretext of fighting terrorism. MPs believe that the Russian journalists became victims of a deliberate provocation of the Ukrainian power structures, for whom it is extremely undesirable to let independent journalists into places of combat and mop-up operations.
“Kyiv undoubtedly fears that journalistic evidence from places of bloody crimes committed upon the orders of the Kyiv junta, will form the basis of a future investigation and prosecution of those guilty of these crimes,” the deputies noted.
They emphasized that the lives of Saichenko and Sidyakin are in danger. It is noted that violations of the law against representatives of mass media are becoming the norm with the present Kyiv authorities, “hypocritically declaring their commitment to the principles of democracy, which is an integral part is free media.”
The draft document stresses that there is abundant evidence pointing to obstacles put in the way of journalists by Kyiv, including the ban on the entry of journalists to the territory of Ukraine, and threats to the life and health of journalists.
“Deputies of the State Duma support the efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation aimed at releasing journalists held hostage, including an urgent appeal to the leadership of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the employees of this organization, carrying out its mission directly in Ukraine; and I hope that the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, in the framework of her mandate, will make all efforts to ensure that such situations do not occur in the future,” the draft document read.
Parliamentarians are waiting for decisive measures to liberate the Russian journalists on the part of those Western capitals, without whose tacit consent and direct connivance the current Kyiv authorities would not dare to resort to repressions against representatives of the mass media.