THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Among more than 30 Ukrainian media persons who are currently in russian captivity, a significant part is from Melitopol: Yevhen Ilchenko, Iryna Levchenko, Anastasiya Hlukhovska, Heorhii Levchenko, Vladyslav Hershon…
Their names were announced during an event hosted by the Zaporizhzhia Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), the administrative center of the Ukrainian-controlled region occupied for 70%. The event took place on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. This solidarity action is one of the largest events in Ukraine in support of the journalists captured by russia.
“To date, 341 cases of kidnapping have been recorded in the occupied city of Melitopol. But this figure is much higher, because people do not inform us about all the facts of abduction. Someone does not even have the opportunity to report because phones, tablets, and all means of communication are taken from people during the searches,” emphasized Nataliya P., a specialist in the search and release of kidnapped residents of Melitopol and Melitopol District. According to the data of the “Kidnapped Melitopol residents” service quotes RIA Pivden, currently, 136 of the 341 detainees are in captivity, there is absolutely no information about 59 where they are, 29 residents of Melitopol are under investigation or convicted for “terrorism” or “extremism.”
As Melitopol journalist Svitlana Zalizetska noted, the strategy of the information attack of the occupiers on the residents of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Region was thought out in advance. Yes, they attacked pro-Ukrainian websites, including RIA Melitopol, where Svitlana worked. The publication had to switch to social networks. Meanwhile, the occupiers, in advance, even before the full-scale invasion, created about a hundred “sleeping” channels on Telegram for the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia Region. After the start of full-scale aggression, they immediately “woke up.”
“The first thing the occupiers did when they entered Melitopol was to seize television and TV towers,” Melitopol journalist Svitlana Zalizetska said. “They started calling journalists for so-called interviews. In May 2023, they captured Iryna Levchenko, an elderly and sick person who no longer worked in journalism. But this did not prevent the enemy from capturing her and her husband right on the street. We have not known their fate for a year. Unfortunately, they also came for my colleagues from RIA Melitopol…” said Svitlana with tears in her eyes.
For her, the stories of detained colleagues are stories from her life. All detained Melitopol journalists were her acquaintances, and some were her friends…
On August 20, 2023, at night, the administrator of the Telegram channel RIA Melitopol Heorhii Levchenko was captured. He was kidnapped; the Telegram channel was also stolen. Only a month later, the occupiers showed on their resources a video in which Heorhii was sitting in a cell of a temporary detention center and was being interrogated by a russian “journalist.” Recently, it became known that Heorhii Levchenko is accused of “terrorism.”
Later, it became known that on the same day, occupiers captured Anastasiya Hlukhovska, who worked on the website RIA Melitopol and resigned after the start of the full-scale invasion.
“We also do not know where Anastasiya is now,” said Svitlana Zalizetska. “Although russian Telegram channels demonstrate Anastasiya‘s detention, in response to official requests from her relatives, the fsb [russia’s federal security service] reports that “she was not detained.”
Svitlana‘s opinion is continued by her colleague Viyacheslav Tverdokhlib, a journalist for the Mariupol channel TV7, who currently lives in Zaporizhzhia.
“According to the apt expression of the President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, our “fault” as journalists is only that we do our work. We are not soldiers, not politicians; we are journalists! But they still come for us,” Viyacheslav said. “My native Mariupol was completely blocked in the spring of 2022; there was no communication. In order to send one photo on Facebook, it took 30-40 minutes. Journalists who worked until the end and ended up in captivity are people who are true to their profession. Journalism is not about money but about a calling. You can leave journalism, but it will not leave you!”
Responding to the calls of the NUJU, the international community demands the immediate release of Ukrainian media workers.
“Journalists Heorhii Levchenko and Anastasiya Hlukhovska were detained by the russian occupation forces for almost eight months without contact with the outside world simply because they are journalists,” comments Gulnoza Said, the CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, referring to NUJU information. “The russian authorities must immediately release them, remove all charges from them, and stop the illegal persecution of Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories.”
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) also insists on the observance of the principle of freedom of speech and human rights for media workers. “We demand the immediate release of journalists who were imprisoned just for doing their job!” emphasizes Maja Sever, the president of the EFJ.
During a solidarity event in Zaporizhzhia, 35 media workers of regional publications, immigrant journalists, and students of the Faculty of Journalism approved and signed an appeal letter in support of their imprisoned colleagues, addressing it to the NUJU, the EFJ, international institutions, and the Ukrainian authorities, with a call to strengthen consolidation efforts to increase pressure on russia to release our illegally captured colleagues.
The letter of appeal was also signed by the speakers of the event:
Mykhailo Volkov, a representative of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Supreme Council of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia Region
Olena Orieshkina, the regional coordinator of the representative office of the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances in Zaporizhzhia Region
Antonina Shostak, the head of the Aegis-Zaporizhzhia non-governmental human rights organization, which searches for missing persons and prisoners,
Nataliya P., a specialist in the search and release service for kidnapped residents of Melitopol and Melitopol District.
“We declare that we will use all possible means to bring the moment closer to the moment when we will be able to congratulate our colleagues who are hostages of the Kremlin and among whom our Zaporizhian colleagues are also suffering in captivity… Journalists are a worthy profession that should be supported all over the world and not the one we have to be punished for. We strongly support our colleagues, protecting freedom of speech and people’s right to receive information. In times of war, journalism is more important than ever. Journalists are documenting war crimes, and together, we are all approaching the moment of justice, the punishment of the great evil that (we believe temporarily) has been unleashed today. We are with you, dear colleagues, we remember you, we fight for your release and believe in victory!” it is said, in particular, in the appeal letter of Zaporizhzhia journalists.
Among the journalists taken hostage by the occupation regime in Melitopol are:
Yevhen Ilchenko, the administrator of the Mily Topol Telegram channel, was detained on July 10, 2022;
Iryna Levchenko, a veteran journalist, was detained together with her husband on May 11, 2023;
Heorhii Levchenko, an administrator of the RIA Melitopol telegram channel, was detained on August 20, 2023;
Anastasiya Hlukhovska, before the full-scale invasion, a journalist of the website RIA Melitopol, was detained on August 20, 2023;
Vladyslav Hershon, the administrator of the Melitopol is Ukraine chat, was detained on August 20, 2023.
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Call the Zaporizhzhia JSC at 096 277 5352 (Nataliya Kuzmenko and Valentyna Manzhura, the Zaporizhzhia JSC coordinators). The Center’s address is 152 Sobornyi Lane.
ABOUT JSC
The Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the NUJU implemented with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO. The initiative is designated to help media representatives working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers operate in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro and provide journalists with organizational, technical, legal, psychological, and other types of assistance.
ABOUT UNESCO
UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. It contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information. UNESCO promotes knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas to accelerate mutual understanding. It is the coordinator of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, thus strengthening peace, democracy, and sustainable development worldwide. UNESCO is working closely with its partner organizations in Ukraine to provide support to journalists on the ground.
The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this digest do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this digest and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit to the organization.
Valentyna Bystrova, Zaporizhzhia JSC
Maksym Stepanov, NUJU Information Service
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