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EFJ Calls on Ukrainian Authorities to End Pressure Campaign Against Journalists

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the region’s biggest group, adopted a motion on Friday calling for an end to violence and persecution against their colleagues in Ukraine.
Sputnik

The motion was passed after the EFJ annual meeting (AM) in Lisbon on Wednesday condemned a rise in verbal and online violence against journalists in Ukraine.

"The AM instructs the Steering Committee…to strongly condemn the intimidation campaign from Ukrainian public officials and to call on Ukrainian authorities to put an end to any act of harassment targeting journalists and representatives of journalists’ organisations," it said on its website.

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The EFJ is Europe’s largest organization of journalists, representing over 320,000 journalists in 70 journalistic organizations across 44 countries.

The organization pointed to a May 30 post on Facebook by the spokeswoman of the Ukrainian chief prosecutor which contained a list of 26 people, including two journalists, described as "traitors."

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Earlier that month, deputy parliamentary speaker Iryna Gerashchenko verbally attacked Ukraine's National Union of Journalists for allegedly cooperating with Russia, prompting an online harassment campaign against the union's chief, Sergiy Tomilenko.

In the past years, Ukrainian authorities have cracked down on Russian media in the country. In 2015, Kiev published a list of 115 Russian outlets that allegedly posed a threat to national security.

A number of Russian journalists from the blacklist were subsequently denied entry or deported, while several TV channels were banned.

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