IMI records 30 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in December 2024

Illustration by the IMI

The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 30 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in December, according to the monthly IMI monitoring “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.

Russia's crimes (23 cases) inlcuded death threats and intimidation, cyber attacks, legal pressure, and media outlets closing down due to Russia's aggression.

The death of two media professionals were reported in December:

• Oleh Sarelo, soldier and film editor for the project Realna Istoria. His death was announced by his wife Olena on December 9, 2024. Oleh enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces six months before. He served in the separate mechanized brigade No. 72.
• Anton Vovk, music editor for Starlight Media's MasterChef turned soldier. He was killed in action while performing a combat mission on December 28, 2024. He served in the separate airborne assault brigade No. 95.

Freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in December 2024

In December, multiple media outlets and journalists received another wave of identical emails claiming that bombs had been planted in the buildings of various institutions across Ukraine, as well as in the media offices. The emails arrived to both national and regional (Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Volyn, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava) media outlets.

Two media outlets sustained cyber attacks: Espreso TV, when the hackers gained unauthorized access to the channel’s server and attempted to stream a video clip parroting the Russian psyop narratives about Ukraine’s mobilization effort, and the Chernihiv online news outlet Cheline (the website and administration systems were down). Both teams believe Russia to be involved in the attacks. Hackers also targeted a telecom provider and streamed pro-Russian clips on Ukrainian channels.

Russia arrested DW journalist Nicholas Connolly and Hromadske journalist Diana Butsko for reporting from Kursk region.

Two newspapers (Kropyvnytskyi's Nova Hazeta and Chernihiv's Slovo Varvynshchyny) were indirectly affected by the influence of Russia's war on Ukraine's media market. Nova Hazeta is permanently going out of print in 2025. Editor Inna Danilchenko says they were unable to produce a quality product with the funding the newspaper could afford.

The Chernihiv oblast newspaper Slovo Varvynshchyny is temporarily going out of print due to having no funding for the next six months. Another factor that led to the closure is the lack of staff.

The IMI also recorded 7 cases of freedom of speech violations unrelated to Russia's war on Ukraine. These included obstruction of reporting, indirect and legal pressure, and cyber attacks.

In Kremenchuk and Zhytomyr, reporters with Espreso TV and Suspilne Zhytomyr were faced with obstruction by ordinary citizens. Espreso's Maria Ivanovska, who was in Kremenchuk to investigate the supply of Russian oil products to Ukraine, met unknown men who forbade her to film and threatened to break her phone. They also blocked the journalist's passage with their car, preventing her from leaving the location.

In Zhytomyr, the relatives of the defendants prevented Suspilne journalists from entering the courtroom to report on a hearing in the case of group of men from Korostyshiv who are suspected of racketeering. The people blocked the door, pushing the journalists away, shouting and declaring that they would not be entering until all the relatives are let in. Only after the police arrived were the journalists finally allowed into the courtroom.

Rivne's Chetverta Vlada was targeted with more smear content about the outlet's journalists. A local website posted articles about the Chetverta Vlada editors Volodymyr and Antonina Torbich, resorting to insults against Volodymyr and making assumptions as to the reasons for the couple's upcoming divorce.

Radio Liberty and Skhemy journalist Heorhiy Shabayev faced legal pressure by former judge of the Donetsk District Administrative Court, Lyudmyla Arestova, who sued him for revealing her Russian citizenship. Arestova is asking the court to recover a total of UAH 180,000 in moral damages from Heorhiy Shabayev and Radio Liberty, as well as to declare the information about her Russian citizenship, reported in the Skhemy investigation released on July 13, 2023, as “unreliable and defamatory of honor, dignity and business reputation,” and to remove her photos, which Skhemy found in open sources, from the material.

Read the full monitoring here.

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian non-governmental media organization that has been operating since 1996. The IMI defends the rights of journalists, analyzes the media field and covers media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation and has been providing media outlets with safety gear for trips to the combat zone since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014.

The IMI carries out Ukraine's only freedom of speech monitoring and keeps a list of high quality and sustainable online media outlets, documents Russia's crimes against the media committed in the course of the war on Ukraine. The IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and a network of "Mediabaza" hubs to provide journalists with continuous support. The IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House; the organization is a member of the International Organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (IFEX).