Law enforcement officers registered 57 "journalistic" cases in 1st quarter, none was sent to court

During January-March 2020, the law enforcement officers registered 57 criminal proceedings for crimes against journalists.  This is said in the Prosecutor General's Office's response to the IMI's inquiry about the progress of investigations into crimes against journalists.

As reported in the GPU, the requests of IMI, in particular the one forwarded from the National Police to provide information on the number of criminal proceedings registered between January and March 2020 and before January 1, 2020, have been considered.

Thus, 41 criminal proceedings were registered under Art. 171 ("Obstruction of the Legal Professional Activity of Journalists") of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, 19 of which were dropped.

15 criminal proceedings were instituted under Article 345-1 ("Threatening or violence against a journalist") of the Criminal Code, four of which were closed.

Law enforcement agencies also registered one criminal complaint under Article 347-1 ("Deliberate destruction or damage to property belonging to a journalist, his close relatives or family members in connection with the legitimate professional activity of this journalist").

At present, 34 criminal proceedings no decision has been taken and no case has been brought to court.

Recall that in the first quarter of 2020, IMI experts recorded 62 cases of violations of freedom of  speech in Ukraine. The vast majority of these violations (43) involved physical aggression against journalists.

In 2019, law enforcement officers investigated and brought to court 14 criminal proceedings against crimes against journalists. In total, over the year 2019, the law enforcement officers registered 259 criminal offenses against crimes against media professionals. Of these, 102 criminal proceedings were dropped.

In 2018, law enforcement officers brought to court 22 criminal proceedings against crimes against journalists. 

In 2017, 23 criminal proceedings against these crimes were brought to court .

In 2016, In 2016, the law enforcement agencies have sent to court 31 indictments for crimes against journalists.