WARSAW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) – Polish journalists are demanding the release of Andrei Stenin, a photographer from International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya, and have asked the Polish government for help.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers,” the journalists quoted Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“Freedom of press is the basis of any democracy’s functioning. Without it, it’s impossible to discuss any sort of freedom,” reads the statement released by the editorial board of information website interregion24.pl.
“Back in May, the Human Rights Watch rights defense group warned that the Ukrainian security services and the army are ‘dangerously violating freedom of the press’ by detaining journalists working for Russian media and preventing them from entering the country. Today, we are witnessing not only the abuse of journalist Andrei Stenin, but also the infringement of freedom of speech – the foundation of any democracy,” the statement added.
The Polish journalists stress that “Protection of a journalist’s life and freedom of the press must involve the governments of all nations that have [the right to] freedom of the press expressed in their constitutions as a foundation. This obligation particularly concerns the governments of the nations that maintain close political contact with the Kiev authorities.”
The editorial board urged “The head of the Polish government, Mr. Donald Tusk, to join the effort to release journalist Andrei Stenin”.
On August 5, Russian photographer Andrei Stenin went missing in eastern Ukraine. On Tuesday, an official from Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said in a radio interview that Stenin had been detained by Ukraine’s Security Service on suspicion of “complicity with terrorism.” Later the official said that he had been misinterpreted and denied possessing any exact information about the journalist.
Please support Andrei Stenin’s release by sharing the hashtag #FreeAndrew in social networks. Andrei is a professional war photographer reporting from the most dangerous war zones in the world. You can view Andrei’s pictures from Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Libya here and his most recent shots from eastern Ukraine here.
