Executed Free Speech exhibition tells stories of media workers killed due to russian aggression

Newsroom computer displays and laptops destroyed in russian shelling; things that the russian military left behind in looted and destroyed newsrooms; protective equipment provided by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) to media personnel to work in war zones; items that belonged to fallen colleagues form the exhibition titled Executed Free Speech opened on September 14 at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.

Among the exhibits are personal belongings of the killed journalists Maks Levin, Ivan Shulha, freelancer Bohdan Bitik, and many more journalists either killed or held in captivity by the occupiers. Video stories of journalists who suffered as a result of the large-scale russian invasion are also presented.

The idea of creating the Executed Free Speech exhibition arose during one of the presentations of the NUJU project of the same name. The creative group that prepared the exposition spent a lot of time searching for exhibits because damaged equipment is usually thrown away immediately.

The opening was attended by the Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Rostyslav Karandeyev.

“In the war, not only soldiers get killed, but also those who go to the enemy with a camera, those who are supposed to record and convey to us what is happening at the front, so that we feel our solidarity with the front,” emphasized Rostyslav Karandeyev.

He expressed his condolences to the relatives of those journalists who gave their lives fighting for Victory holding their own “weapons” – a camera and a pen.

“I thank the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, which shows leadership in highlighting the problems that exist in the journalistic environment. The implementation of the state information policy is impossible without you, journalists,” added the acting minister.

The NUJU is trying to help every journalist affected by the war and the media that suffered as a result of the full-scale war, the NUJU President, Sergiy Tomilenko, emphasized while speaking at the opening of the exhibition.

“We record violations of journalists’ rights and restrictions on freedom of speech, documenting these facts,” the President of the Union noted. “The NUJU transfers the collected information to such international institutions as the human rights initiative Tribunal For Putin, the International and European Federation of Journalists, as well as other international organizations. We believe that the occupiers should be held accountable for war crimes, including those against journalists.

Every war crime committed by representatives of the aggressor country must have its consequences and lead to prosecution, emphasized Sergiy Tomilenko.

Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the NUJU and the coordinator of the initiative to collect the testimonies of journalists titled Executed Free Speech, noted that behind each of the exhibits presented at the event, there is a story of resilience, courage, and loyalty to professional duty. She thanked the team that worked on the creation of the exhibition and everyone who, after going through painful trials, found the courage to testify.

“Journalists during the war become targets for invaders who seek to “liberate” our country from Ukrainian media in order to plant their propaganda instead. We have all felt the consequences of war crimes against journalists. We should not only draw society’s attention to these crimes but also remind them of them until the perpetrators are punished,” Lina Kushch emphasizes.

As the Ukrainian parliamentarian who became the head of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech on September 20, Yevhen Brahar, emphasized, the testimony of journalists will gain new value after the war when the perpetrators of war crimes are tried.

“The protection of journalists and the memory of those who were killed are of great importance to the Verkhovna Rada,” he said. “We knew many of those killed, and for us, they are a great loss. Eternal memory to the journalists whose lives were taken by this war!”

Olena Tsyhipa told about the feat of her husband and journalist Serhii Tsyhipa, who had the courage to run the “Information self-defense” blog on Facebook in occupied Nova Kakhovka, telling his countrymen the truth about the war.

“He wrote a lot and hardly rested. He volunteered during the day and worked at night. And on March 12, 2022, the occupiers kidnapped him. He is currently in the pre-trial detention center in Simferopol. He is being tried for espionage… I am very grateful to the media for informational assistance so that people do not forget about him and people like him!” said Olena. “I haven’t heard his voice for eighteen months. Only short notes are sent by people who have left the pre-trial detention center… Other prisoners write to their wives about love, and my husband wrote to me… [about] a new civic project. He named it the Ukrainian Assembly. Now, I’m thinking about how to implement it. I believe that Serhii will return, and we will do it together. I don’t even want to think about him never coming back. Because he faces a very terrible term – from 10 to 20 years in prison, and considering that he is now 62 years old, in prison conditions, it is almost life.”

Journalist/communications director of the SEMA Ukraine non-governmental organization, Liudmyla Huseynova, who went through a three-year russian captivity, significantly helped to organize the event. Her speech at the opening of the exhibition was full of optimism.

“Your husband will survive; you will meet!” said Ms. Liudmyla, addressing Olena Tsyhipa. “I know it’s hard… It’s scary… But you can survive! A person in captivity can be tortured, beaten, raped. But it is impossible to take away freedom from a free person!”

Liudmyla Huseynova urged not to remain silent about the fate of the captured journalists. “We have to call their names every day and, no matter how hard it is, wait for them!” she said.

“Sometimes, my hands fell… Sometimes, I didn’t want to open my eyes in the morning… But I thought: my friends Lina Kushch, Olha Musafirova, and my relatives are fighting for me. And this gave strength… the fact that I would go out and meet them! said Liudmyla Huseynova.

According to the Director General of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, Yurii Savchuk, it is deeply symbolic that the Executed Free Speech exhibition was opened precisely in the exposition space of this Museum. It fits in harmoniously with its representative line, artistic design, and also with its atmosphere. The Museum is a very authoritative and interesting institution for visitors: since the beginning of the year alone, 200,000 people have visited the Museum.

From now on, the Museum’s funds have been replenished, in particular, with the personal belongings of Bohdan Bitik, a Ukrainian fixer killed by a russian sniper. They were transferred to the institution by the brother of the media personality Borys Bitik.

Many participants of the exhibition opening spoke about how difficult it is to experience the loss of loved ones who were killed in the war. Roksolana Ariyonchyk, a colleague and friend of the deceased StopKor journalist Anton Klitnyi, also raised this problematic topic.

“For two and a half months, our newsroom cannot believe that Anton is no longer there…,” said Roksolana. “Anton said: I will fight on two fronts – informational and military. He did it successfully… But on June 25, 2023, he received a life-threatening injury. I really want to believe that his sacrifice will not remain in vain, that this evil will soon leave our land, and that what Anton fought for – a peaceful sky for our children, a bright future, freedom of speech – that all this will happen!”

The officer of the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Olena Mokrenchuk, spoke about the incredible courage of journalists who took an active part in the Revolution of Dignity, covered the events of the war in the east of Ukraine, the full-scale russian-Ukrainian war.

“They do not receive combatant status; they will not be considered participants in hostilities; they will not be allowed to travel around the city on a trolleybus; they will not be allowed to wait in line at a store… But they are people who stood together with us!” said the military journalist. “It is thanks to them that you know our heroes by face!”

Svitlana Ovcharenko, the editor-in-chief of the Vpered newspaper from Bakhmut, a newspaper still read today by Bakhmut residents in various regions of Ukraine, says of herself that she is “a simple editor of a local newspaper.”

“When the enemy was burning down Bakhmut, when there was not a single unburnt piece of land left when everyone was sitting in the basements and heard only russian radio and various lies, we talked with the head of the NUJU Serhii Tomilenko and came to the conclusion that true, verified information can be sent to the people in the basements report only the printed newspaper. And last fall, we resumed publication of the newspaper. At that time, we did not have any funds; the Union found us partners who financed the printing of the newspaper. And we delivered the newspaper to people in their basements,” Svitlana Ovcharenko said. “And the word saved, because people learned how and where to leave the city engulfed in flames, how to spend the winter in the city itself.”

During the opening, the exhibition was supplemented by a plastic performance by Actor’s For Future, which showed the sufferings of media workers in captivity using the means of theatrical art.

Organizers of the exhibition: the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine with the support of the civil rights defender organization Civil Rights Defenders (Sweden); the network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers, which operates with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists, as well as UNESCO; the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.

Exhibition’s curator: Valeriya Parkhomenko.

Symbolic is the presence at the exhibition of diplomats from friendly countries such as Japan and Norway, which testifies to international support for Ukraine and instills confidence that evil will be punished.

The exhibition will last until November 3: its end is timed to coincide with The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists celebrated on November 2.

NUJU Information Service