Impunity occurs when those who place bomb under journalist's car remain seated in the institutions or on the boards of directors - IFJ

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called to end impunity for crimes against journalists and started 3-months campaign “to expose the staggering levels of impunity for crimes against journalists and the lack of international action to combat the rising tide of threats and abuse faced by journalists worldwide”.

The IFJ campaign will focus on 5 countries - Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Somalia, Ukraine - countries where the level of impunity for abusing, jailing, attacking and killing journalists has been high, taking into account the levels of violence against journalists in the respective countries and the systematic failure of the authorities to fight impunity.

“Impunity occurs when those who place a bomb under a journalist's car remain seated in the institutions of a state or on the boards of directors of a large company”, as IFJ said and reminded that 16 journalists in Ukraine have been killed since 1995 including 7 foreign journalists (1 Italian and 6 Russian): Vadym Komarov, Pavel Sheremet, Oles Buzina, Sergii Nikolaiev, Andrei Stenin, Anatoli Klian, Anton Voloshin, Igor Kornelyuk, Andrea Rocchelli, Andrei Mironov, Vyacheslav Veremyi, Volodymyr Karachevtsev, Igor Alexandrov, Georgiy Gongadze, Igor Grouchetsky and Vladimir Ivanov.

IFJ pointed out that at least 13 000 people died, including civilians and soldiers, around 15 000 were wounded and in Ukraine, up to 150 people disappeared. including media workers, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This war is still going on. At least 6 journalists and 2 technicians have been killed.

IFJ reminded two cases: murder of Vyacheslav Veremiy, in February 2014 and murder of Vadym Komarov in June 2019 in Cherkassy. As to Veremiy murder, one organizer of the murder is in prison. Other participants remain unpunished. And as to murder of Komarov, His colleagues told that no murderers were found or punished.

And the biggest case of impunity in Ukraine is the murder of Georgiy Gongadze, as IFJ said.

“Ukraine is dangerous country for journalists, especially in the city and the region of Kyiv”, as IFJ estimated. “Regarding media independence and press freedom, Ukrainian national media are owned by oligarchs that makes journalists’ work complicated and hard. During the last presidential election, several journalists reported to the National Union of Journalists (NUJU), an IFJ affiliate, that they had been the target of attacks, threats, pressure to disclose their sources, constant surveillance, not to mention the constant manipulation of information”.