Terrorists from Donetsk People’s Republic demand that Donetsk mass media re-register in 10 days

The press service of the self-proclaimed «Donetsk People’s Republic» insists that all mass media, which operate on the territory of Donetsk People’s Republic, must re-register with the so-called «Ministry of Information and Mass Communications of Donetsk People’s Republic» within ten days. They also insist that the materials to be published by local media outlets should not contain any calls for seizure of power, violent violation of the Republic’s territorial supremacy, they should not promote war, violence, and cruelty, national or religious hatred.

According to the lawyer of the National Association of Journalists of Ukraine Tetiana Kotiuzhynska, as Donetsk People’s Republic, which, under the Ukrainian legislation, is a terrorist organization, these demands are illegal. Only public authorities of Ukraine are entitled to register media outlets.

And while it is expedient to yield to the terrorists’ demands when they threaten journalists’ lives, those who agree to register under them to continue their economic activities are, in fact, abettors to the terrorists. Tetiana Kotiuzhynska recommends the editorial offices and journalists that are still in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation to leave immediately.