OSCE media freedom representative worried about new reports of missing journalists in eastern Ukraine

VIENNA, 5 August 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today said that she was worried about new reports that more journalists have gone missing in Ukraine.

According to reports, journalists Sergey Belous (Serbian weekly Pecat) and Roman Gnatyuk (112 Ukraina TV channel) as well as freelance journalist Sergey Boyko went missing in eastern Ukraine on 1 August.

It was also reported that Yevgeny Shlyakhtin and Yevgeny Tymofeyev who contributed to various Ukrainian media went missing on 31 July in the Luhansk region.

In addition, the whereabouts of Yury Lelyavsky, a freelance journalist with ZIK, who went missing on 23 July, are still unknown (see also statement of 25 July: www.osce.org/fom/121824).

“I again call on those responsible to immediately release all media workers and stop the attempts to prevent them from carrying out their professional activities,” Mijatović said.  

She also expressed concern over injuries suffered by Espreso.TV journalist Bianka Zalewska who was seriously hurt on 27 July while covering events in the Luhansk region.

On 4 August, Mikhail Andreyev, a cameraman for Anna-News, suffered injuries from shrapnel when the crew came under attack in Luhansk.