05 December 2013, 10:41
The Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information considered incident of beating journalists and obstruction of their professional activity during coverage of events at EuroMaidan in Kyiv.
During the meeting on December 3, the Committee adopted the decision to “demand the dismissal of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and leadership of the Ministry which bears responsibility for physical violence against journalists and obstruction of their professional activity.”
It was mentioned during the meeting that, according to information of media organizations, 50 Ukrainian and foreign journalists were injured, professional equipment, photo and video cameras, were destroyed.
According to the Committee’s decision, a working group, headed by Mykola Tomenko, was formed.
M.Tomenko addressed all representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office and militia, present at the meeting, with a demand to “open all cases initiated for beating of the journalists according to article 171 of the Criminal Code.”
The Committee also addressed people’s deputies and businessmen asking to provide financial assistance for medical treatment of such journalists.