Sergiy Tomilenko: “For us, the basic priority is to join forces to free Ukrainian journalists from captivity”

During the opening of the Council of Europe campaign Journalists Matter in Ukraine, the President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), Sergiy Tomilenko, emphasized the importance of joint steps to free Ukrainian journalists from russian captivity.

Here is the text of his speech.

– I welcome the strengthening of interaction between experts, authorities, and international institutions. During the next meetings within the framework of the Platform created by the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, we would like to report on certain results and not just talk about the importance of the process that is starting in our country today.

As the President of the NUJU, I would like to focus on our work and our vision of how we can help journalists in the temporarily occupied territories and focus on joint steps to free Ukrainian journalists from russian captivity.

Today, bad news became known about the journalist from Nova Kakhovka, Serhii Tsyhipa, who was sentenced to a long prison term by the russian occupiers. According to his wife, Olena Tsyhipa, his transfer began from the occupied Crimea, where the “trial” was taking place, to the territory of russia. The case of Serhii Tsyhipa is the first case when, after the beginning of a full-scale invasion, russia takes a journalist prisoner and illegally detains him. A so-called “trial” is arranged over him “on a turnkey basis” – a court during which the Ukrainian journalist received a “sentence.”

The example of Serhii Tsyhipa is a continuation of a series of trials against our other colleagues in the temporarily occupied Crimea, where russia worked out mechanisms to neutralize the independent voices of journalists. We have to study this mechanism to name such things as the capture of civilian journalists and their torture. The rapporteurs of the United Nations clearly confirm that torture is currently an element of russia’s military policy and is being used against journalists.

The NUJU documents the testimony of journalists about war crimes. We have already recorded more than a hundred video testimonies that give us grounds to conclude that journalists are the targets of the russian military offensive. Some of the captured citizen journalists are members of the NUJU. These are Vladyslav Yesypenko and Iryna Levchenko… Our basic priority is to join forces to free Ukrainian journalists from captivity.

I would like to draw attention to an important tool created by the Council of Europe – the Platform to promote the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists, where information is entered on all cases of violations of freedom of speech and, in particular, the detention of journalists. This is a certain tool of diplomatic pressure. As of today, there are 19 stories of imprisoned journalists in Ukraine on the Platform. These are cases related to events both before and after a full-scale invasion.

My proposal is to focus on updating and supplementing the cases on the Council of Europe’s Platform. In particular, Crimean Tatar journalist Ruslan Suleymanov, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by russian “judges,” is not included in the Platform’s lists. In addition, journalist Hennadii Osmak was detained in Henichesk in March. In addition, the name of the detained Berdiansk journalist Anastasiya Hlukhovska was made public today. If we supplement the list, we arrive at the sad figure of 28 journalists in journalistic captivity.

I see an important emphasis on legal, effective human rights assistance for the families of journalists who have been taken hostage. Their relatives need to be consulted about algorithms of actions. Today, the relatives of Iryna Levchenko, Dmytro Khyliuk, and other imprisoned colleagues need daily support and advice on where to turn.

NUJU‘s proposal to consolidate materials and establish an international tribunal against russia for crimes against freedom of expression was supported by the European Federation of Journalists. This should be one of the separate sections of the tribunal against Putin. The materials being developed by our Steering Committee of the Council of Europe’s Journalists Matter campaign, I am convinced, should also be considered there.

NUJU Information Service