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Killers of Ukrainian journalist are ‘getting away’
16/9/05: A report published today by the NUJ and other journalists’ organisations warns that the authorities in Ukraine are obstructing the investigation into the murder of journalist Gyorgy Gongadze.
Those who instigated and organised the notorious killing of Gongadze are “getting away”, says the report, published jointly by the NUJ, the International Federation of Journalists, the Gongadze Foundation and the Institute of Mass Information, a Kiev-based press freedom NGO.
This Friday, 16 September, marks the fifth anniversary of the killing in 2,000 of internet journalist Gongadze, whose headless body was found in a ditch in a village outside Kiev.
Shortly after that, tapes made by a bodyguard of former president Leonid Kuchma, on which the president and other ministers could be heard planning to harm Gongadze, were made public.
After the “Orange revolution”, the new president, Viktor Yushchenko, promised to make solving the murder a priority. But, as today’s report asserts, the investigation has been marked by serious negligence, and there has been political pressure to steer it away from the organisers of the crime and limit it to the immediate perpetrators.
The investigation has established that Gongadze was killed by a group of serving interior ministry officers, some of whom are expected to be tried shortly. But the leader of the group, General Olexiy Pukach, has disappeared. Former interior minister Yuri Kravchenko, a key witness, has died in mysterious circumstances.
The Ukrainian general prosecutor has failed to examine the links between the case and the operation of death squads within the interior ministry. He has also failed to get the tapes made in former president Kuchma’s office to court.
Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said: “The issue for us in the NUJ is that people with power and authority must not think that they can use violence to silence journalists and get away with it.
“That’s why this case is important for press freedom not just in Ukraine but in the whole of Europe.
“When president Yushchenko was elected he promised to make solving this case a priority. We are disappointed that so little has been done, and, in particular, that those who organised and instigated the crime appear to be getting away with it.”
Jeremy Dear and NUJ president Tim Lezard will lead a delegation to the Ukrainian embassy in London on Friday to voice the union’s concerns.
For more information call Jeremy Dear on 07855 384 287 or Simon Pirani on 020 8333 2152 or 07947 031268
Last modified: Friday, September 16, 2005
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World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
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DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
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DATELINE: 1/3/13
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Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
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The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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