PACE Calls for Immediate Release of 26 Ukrainian Journalists Held by Russia
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution calling on Russia to immediately release 26 Ukrainian journalists from captivity and to increase international pressure on those guilty of crimes against the media.
The Gaze reports on it, referring to Ukrinform, citing the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The document, prepared by Ukrainian MP Yevheniia Kravchuk, was supported by 128 PACE delegates. It also calls on Council of Europe member states to increase political, economic, and diplomatic pressure on Russia, as well as to impose sanctions against all persons involved in the persecution of journalists.
The resolution records more than 800 crimes against the media since the start of the full-scale invasion, including 108 cases of journalists killed.
The authors of the document emphasize that, given the Kremlin's disregard for international law, pressure from the international community and the involvement of organizations such as the UN, the OSCE, and the International Committee of the Red Cross remain the only tools for securing the release of prisoners.
A distinctive feature of this resolution is the use of the term “citizen journalists” — Crimean Tatar activists and relatives of political prisoners who, due to the inability to work openly, are forced to perform journalistic work anonymously, risking their lives every day.
The document also emphasizes the importance of supporting international mechanisms for holding Russia accountable, in particular the Register of Damages, the Claims Commission, the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, and the International Criminal Court.
PACE called for sanctions to be applied not only to the top leadership of the Russian Federation, but also to others involved in such crimes.
"Sanctions should be applied both to high-ranking officials and to lower-ranking executors - commanders of operational groups of Russian troops, chiefs of staff and their deputies, unit commanders, fleet commanders, General Staff and GRU leadership, heads and staff of detention facilities, officials responsible for media control and propaganda in the occupied territories," Kravchuk clarified.
As The Gaze informed earlier, human rights activist and former BBC journalist Maxim Butkevych became the first Ukrainian to receive the international Václav Havel Prize for his outstanding contribution to the protection of human rights.