Yurchysyn calls on OSCE member states to free the journalists unlawfully detained by Russia

During his speech at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, proposed two amendments to an OSCE Political Committee resolution.

He announced this on Facebook.

The first amendment is to release the journalists unlawfully detained in Russia.

"Over 30 media workers are still in Russian prisons. I pointed out the necessity of their release and of guaranteeing of the rights of journalists such as Vlad Yesypenko, Iryna Danylovych, Dmytro Khyliuk, Amet Suleymanov, Victoria Roshchyna and Iryna Levchenko. I would have liked to list everyone by name, but this can only be done upon approval from the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War," Yurchyshyn wrote.

The second amendment concerns the release of all civilian hostages taken by Russia.

"The member states of the security organization can contribute to this, because only international publicity matters to Russia. Constant pressure from OSCE member states can and should help bring these civilians back to freedom," the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech emphasized.

He thanked the initiators of the resolution on stepping up support for Ukraine – the French delegation.

"I also thank the co-author Mykyta Poturayev and everyone who contributed to the preparation: Yuriy Mosolov, Oksana Romaniuk and the Institute of Mass Information team, Lyudmyla Yanikina and the ZMINA team. Center for Human Rights," added Yurchyshyn.

He stressed that Russia has repeatedly proven that it will not comply with the Geneva Conventions or any other laws.

"Last week, at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe session in France, I presented a list of 30 Ukrainian media workers detained in Russia today. Shortly after that, Nariman Celal, the deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and a journalist who reported on the repression in occupied Crimea, was released from Russian captivity. He was the first person from this list to be freed," said Kateryna Dyachuk, head of the freedom of speech monitoring department of the Institute of Mass Information.

At the same time, she noted that this list has not become any shorter after Nariman Celal's release.

"We would have liked to rejoice at the fact that the list has been reduced to 29 people, but, unfortunately, we have learned that the Russian troops in the temporarily occupied Kakhovka (Kherson oblast) have kidnapped the local journalist Zhanna Kyselyova for the second time, so the number of people on the list remains unchanged – 30 Ukrainian media workers are currently held in detention by Russia.

"We once again call on the international community to take concrete action to free the imprisoned journalists and punish the perpetrators: to conduct a real, legally binding international investigation, to put pressure on the Russian Federation by the international community in order to identify the location and detention conditions of these journalists and bring them home," added Kateryna Dyachuk.

Earlier, IMI reported that no less than 30 Ukrainian media workers are currently detained in Russia. At least 100 journalists have been taken hostage by Russia since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014.