Attacks and physical aggression against journalists have become commonplace in Ukraine. Although criminal liability for offenses related to the obstruction of journalistic activity is provided for by the Criminal Code, in reality, few people are held liable for such liability. This is reported gromslidstvo.info.
According to the results of parliamentary hearings held in January 2020 on the topic "Safety of journalists' activities in Ukraine: state, problems and solutions" were approved a number of recommendations. But the recommendations remained recommendations. For example, he was removed from consideration bill №4224, which provided for the strengthening of the protection of the legal professional activity of journalists, as well as the administrative and criminal accountability of persons for committing offenses against journalists. Bill No. 2381, which was supposed to improve access to information, is simply not considered by the Verkhovna Rada.
Other recommendations of parliamentary listeners remained only on paper, for example, recommendations of the Verkhovna Rada itself:
- determine the legal status of Internet media and Internet media journalists,
- at the legislative level, provide for the protection of the activities of public journalists (persons who collect and distribute publicly useful information),
- bring the concepts of "journalist" and "journalistic activity" into compliance with European standards.
Although the implementation of these recommendations would contribute to the improvement of the legal protection of journalists (especially those associated with new trends in journalism) and the protection of freedom of speech in Ukraine. After all, According to In 2020 alone, the National Police of Ukraine initiated 214 criminal proceedings related to the obstruction of the legal professional activity of journalists, of which 46 were related to direct violence.
However, as practice shows, journalists, widely covering the violation of the rights of other citizens of Ukraine, care little about systematic violations of their own rights. In the same report of the National Police, there are depressing figures from statistics for 2020:
- 132 criminal proceedings against journalists were simply closed,
- only 16 criminal proceedings were sent to the court,
- a total of 220 criminal proceedings are still being investigated, taking into account the previous years.
Will they be investigated or will they also be closed after some time? Will those who committed attacks on journalists be brought to justice? Or will they simply not be found?
Why do the authorities verbally care about journalists, but in practice they just gloss over the problem? However, this question is rhetorical and there is no answer. There is no answer, first of all, because the journalistic community in Ukraine is divided. National organizations of journalists compete with each other and cannot even agree on a methodology for monitoring violations of journalists' rights, as evidenced by different figures in made public they reports.
However, what can national organizations offer in addition to monitoring and infographics prepared on its basis? Help for injured journalists? Lobbying the interests of the journalistic community before the legislators, at least in the implementation of the parliamentary recommendations voted by them?
None of this.
Moreover, in Odessa, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NSJU) was involved in 2 scandals. The first is another case of discrediting the concept of "journalist", when a local deputy boasted on Facebook that his friends had presented him with a certificate of a journalist of the NSJU for his birthday. The second case is when the leadership of the NSJU together with the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs held a round table regarding the attacks on journalists, without the participation of at least one of the journalists who were attacked. However, the "tick" on establishing a relationship between journalists and law enforcement officers was checked. Meanwhile, the phone number of the Prosecutor's Office's "hotline" for journalists who have been attacked has not worked.
It is no coincidence that Odessa journalist Hryhory Kozma said that international organizations are more attentive to the rights and needs of journalists in Ukraine than national ones.
On August 2, 2018, an attempt was made on Grigory: a truck deliberately drove into a car parked on the side of the road. The attackers planned to set up an accident at the intersection, but something went wrong. Moreover, the journalist opened fire from a registered weapon, which completely spoiled the plans of the performers. Law enforcement agencies detained the immediate perpetrators of the attempt, and they are currently being prosecuted. The organizer of the crime is wanted internationally, and the customer is still unknown.
The magazine "Public Investigation", where Hryhoriy Kozma is the editor-in-chief, published dozens of journalistic investigations into the corruption of local top officials. After the attack, Grigory took care of the safety of the magazine's staff, for which he bought at an auction and restored two armored cars, which were not only used to transport journalists, but also to constantly remind officials and law enforcement officers that the profession of a journalist is dangerous in Ukraine.
The criminal proceedings for the attempt were investigated for more than a year. Bringing him to court, as well as complying with the procedure of declaring the mastermind of the crime on the international wanted list, became possible thanks to the qualified legal support provided by the lawyer Artem Kartashov, known in Odessa for his participation in publicly significant legal proceedings, such as contesting zoning, defense against the construction of a military airfield, etc. .
Human rights organizations Front Line Defenders and OMCT SOS-Torture provided significant financial support for legal support.
Front Line Defenders was founded in Dublin in 2001 with the aim of protecting people who are engaged in non-violent activities to protect the rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. OMCT SOS-Torture is an international association of non-governmental organizations "World Organization Against Torture", which defends the principle of the inviolability of the individual.
Thanks to the support of these human rights organizations, the issue of insufficient rights of victims in the criminal process was voiced at the highest legislative level. Lawyer Artem Kartashov took part in the work of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, studying materials about attacks on activists and journalists that occurred in 2018-2019, where he proved to the people's deputies the critical situation with the rights of victims in the Ukrainian criminal legislation.
As Grigory Kozma claims, when a number of codes and laws will be amended to increase the scope of victims' rights, the international human rights organizations Front Line Defenders and OMCT SOS-Torture should be thanked for this.
