PACE Resolution: russia Must Immediately Release All Captured Ukrainian Journalists

PACE Called for the Release of Ukrainian Journalists from russian Captivity and Recorded That russia Has Committed Over 800 Crimes Against Media Workers Since February 24, 2022.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has adopted a resolution authored by Ukrainian parliamentary member Yevheniya Kravchuk, titled Journalists Matter: The Need to Step Up Efforts to Liberate Ukrainian Journalists Held in Captivity by the Russian Federation. A total of 128 PACE delegates voted in favor, Yevheniya Kravchuk wrote on Facebook.

“This document is about the fate of specific people. And about specific crimes committed by russia against Ukraine and Ukrainians,” wrote Yevheniya Kravchuk on Facebook. “More than 800 crimes against journalists and the media have been recorded since the beginning of the full-scale war… The resolution contains specific provisions on our action plan to force the aggressor to release our people and restore justice.”

Russia is obliged to:

• immediately release all Ukrainian journalists who are illegally held in russian prisons and in the occupied territories;
• provide information about the whereabouts and health of the prisoners, as well as allow representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit them;
• stop the practice of torture, murder, and persecution of journalists, which has been going on for years, first in the occupied Crimea, and from 2022 in other territories.

The PACE resolution calls upon the Council of Europe member states to:

• support international accountability mechanisms: the Register of Damages, the Commission for the Consideration of Applications, the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression; the implementation of the ECHR decisions in the interstate cases Ukraine v. russia;
• support Ukrainian journalists: financially, through mentoring programs, and by integrating those who were forced to leave into European newsrooms;
• use the opportunities of the International Criminal Court and the principle of universal jurisdiction to hold russian officials accountable;
• support the work of national human rights institutions;
• increase sanctions pressure on all those involved in crimes against journalists.

What is very important is that sanctions should be applied to both high-ranking officials and lower-ranking executors: commanders of operational groups of the russian Armed Forces; chiefs of staff and deputy commanders; commanders of units; commanders of fleets (in particular, the Black Sea Fleet); officials of the General Staff and the leadership of the general investigation department; heads and employees of detention facilities; leadership of the Federal Security Service of the russian federation; officials responsible for media control and propaganda in the occupied territories.

In addition, PACE called for the investigation and punishment of the crime of incitement to genocide, in particular for hate speech, disinformation, and propaganda.

It was possible to consolidate the call to support efforts to develop a new special protocol to the Fourth Geneva Convention and promote a UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the status of civilians unlawfully deprived of their liberty, establishing procedures for verification, return, monitoring, and release of such persons during armed conflicts.

For the first time, the PACE Resolution uses the term “citizen journalists.” In particular, it is noted that citizen journalists in Crimea take risks every day to cover the events of the occupation. Most of them are not professional journalists, but Crimean Tatar activists and relatives of political prisoners, most of whom are forced to work anonymously for their safety. They are often the victims of persecution.

Finally, the Resolution establishes an annual commemoration ceremony in PACE, titled Victory for Victoria. This will be a separate day during the autumn session, when we will honor journalists and war correspondents who risk their lives in the performance of their professional duty. The name was chosen in honor of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchina, who was captured by the russian military, tortured, and died in captivity.

“I told her story during my speech. Victory for Victoria is about the victory of truth over lies and freedom over terror,” Yevheniya Kravchuk emphasized. “Vladyslav Yesypenko and Dmytro Khyliuk, Ukrainian journalists who were successfully returned from captivity, were present at the debate and vote today. They, like no one else, know about the horrors of russian captivity. I am infinitely grateful for your participation and for sharing your stories during this session. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the work on the resolution. This resolution is not only about journalists. It is about democracy. Because where there is no freedom for journalists, there is no freedom for people!”