UNO condemns radicals’ attack on the UOJ office

Attack of the radicals from S14 on the UOJ’s Editorial Office

The UN Human Rights Council expressed concern by the incidence of physical assaults of journalists in Ukraine, committed by members of the right-wing groups, including the attack on the office of the Union of Orthodox Journalists. It is mentioned in the Report on the situation with human rights in Ukraine prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights over the period of November 16, 2017 - February 15, 2018.

"On January 25, 2018, about 50 members of extreme right-wing groups broke into the office of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, insulted the members of the Union and checked the information in their computers. The police, who were present at the scene, did not intervene. Group S14 posted a video of the attack of its members on the office in Facebook", the authors of the report write.

The document emphasizes that law enforcement agencies were present at the incident, but neither prevented nor stopped the illegal actions.

The authors of the document explain that members of S14 broke into the office of the UOJ in Kiev by force: "The video posted on the page of S14 on Facebook shows how its members are looking for "anti-Ukrainian documents" inside the office, insulting journalists and threatening them. They left the premises when the police arrived, taking personal property, as reported, but none of them was arrested."

The report also notes the lack of progress in the investigation of the criminal case against Mirotvorets (Peacemaker – Ed.) website despite the fact that there is open information about the leader of this resource.

On January 29, after the press-conference organized upon the attack on the editorial office of the Union of Orthodox Journalists, personal data of UOJ director Anna Poddubnaya and a number of staff members entered the database of Mirotvorets site.

Earlier, within the framework of the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council, NGO Public Advocacy filed a separate statement saying that the attack on the UOJ office violates the rights of journalists who inform the public about the oppression of Orthodox Christians.

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