158 cases of violations of journalists' rights has been instituted since beginning of the year
Since beginning of the year 2021, the National Police has registered 158 criminal proceedings for crimes targeting the journalists.
This was announced by Deputy Chief of the National Police of Ukraine and Chief of the Main Investigation Department Maksym Tsutskiridze at a meeting to summarize the work of investigative units since the beginning of the year, according to the website of the National Police.
In particular, out of 158 cases 113 have been initiated for obstruction of lawful professional activity of journalists (Art. 171 of the Criminal Code ), 38 cases done for threat or violence against a journalist (Art. 345-1 of the Criminal Code) and seven cases done for an intentional destruction or damage to the journalist's property (Art. 347-1 of the Criminal Code).
Maksym Tsutskiridze stressed the need to strengthen control over the investigation of crimes against journalists.
It will be recalled that in the first nine months of 2021, IMI recorded a total of 139 cases of violations of freedom of speech.
At the request of IMI, the Prosecutor General's Office said that in the first nine months of 2021, law enforcement officers registered 187 criminal proceedings for crimes committed against media representatives. Of these, 17 indictments were investigated and brought to court.
On May 25, 2021, IMI provided the Office of the Attorney General with a list of violations of journalists' rights for investigation and proposed the establishment of a working group to improve the situation with investigations. The GPO has expressed its readiness to facilitate the investigation of crimes against journalists.
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