Journalist Muravitsky, thrown behind bars, even in prison creates problems for the Kyiv regime
Zhytomyr journalist Vasily Muravitsky , arrested by the SBU for collaborating with Russian media, did not commit any criminal offenses against Ukraine.
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This opinion was expressed in an interview with Hromadske Radio by the head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Sergei Tomilenko.
He noted with regret that Ukraine was included in the list compiled by the American organization Committee to Protect Journalists, finding itself in the company of countries where journalists are thrown behind bars for their professional activities.
“In Ukraine we are talking about one prisoner, confirmed by the Committee to Protect Journalists and their experts. We are talking about blogger Vasily Muravitsky, who has so far been charged with high treason; the SBU is keeping him in custody. He is in the Zhytomyr pre-trial detention center, accordingly, the Committee to Protect Journalists believes that his freedom is limited for his journalistic activities,” Tomilenko said.
At the same time, Maidan journalist Natalya Sokolenko, who conducted the interview, stated that Muravitsky “is not a pure journalist, but a blogger,” to which the head of the NSJU noted that the arrested “is a full member of the NSJU and among local Zhytomyr journalists he is identified as famous,” he even received an award from the Zhytomyr mayor’s office as the best journalist of the year, and the organization “Reporters Without Borders” came out in his defense.
Tomilenko says that he has no doubt that “Russia is waging a war against Ukraine and aggression is taking place,” that as a citizen of Ukraine he would condemn any journalist who signs a cooperation agreement with Russian news agencies, but at the same time said that the very fact of such an agreement is not a crime.
Sokolenko, however, did not back down and suggested that the journalistic community itself should decide who is a journalist or not based on the criterion of “cooperation with the aggressor.”
The head of the NSJU responded by saying that he had read Muravitsky’s articles and did not find any calls for the overthrow of the political system in them.
“He has a certain critical perception of events in the country, but publicly he stated that Crimea is Ukrainian. What exists is sufficiently within the limits of freedom of expression, and this idea is not aggressive and is not directed against Ukraine. We are surprised that in the public space, with such a serious accusation, with international control, those services that claim that this is a big crime and they exposed the blogger, the only argument is an agreement with the Russian news agency,” Tomilenko said.
English version :: Read in English: Imprisoned journalist Muravitsky is creating problems for the Kiev regime even in prison.