On 15-16 June a seminar “Protection of professional activity of journalists and freedom of expression in Ukraine: countering impunity” was held on the premises of the National University “Odessa Law Academy” for the representatives of the law enforcement bodies – patrol officers, investigators and prosecutors, judges, civil society activists and journalists from Odesa, Kherson, Mykolayiv regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. This is the second seminar in the series of the similar events planned by the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine” for 2017.

“Safety of journalists and other media actors is an extremely important issue to which the Council of Europe pays great and systematic attention. Attacks on journalists and other media actors constitute a particularly serious violation of human rights because they  are harmful not only to specific individuals but also deprive others of the right to receive the information, thus hindering the public dialogue, which is fundamental in the democratic society”, underlined Mårten Ehnberg, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, in his opening speech.

Oleksandr Saulko, First Deputy Prosecutor of Odesa region noted that the protection of the journalists’ rights is a constant priority in the work of the legal enforcement authorities that  is coordinated by the Prosecutor’s office.  He emphasized the information support that media provides in the course of investigations of high-profile cases.  “While the investigations of the forceful break up of 19 February 2014 meeting  and the tragic events of 2 May 2017 were carried out, more than 10 television channels and web-sites responded to the requests of the law  enforcement and provided a significant amount of photo and video footage from the crime scene”, Mr. Saulko said.

Ihor Dobrutskyi, Deputy Head of the Investigation Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Odesa region, underlined that cooperation between law enforcement authorities and media is the tool that optimizes activities of both of these structures. “Protection of professional activity of journalists is one of the priorities of the work of Main Department of the National Police in Odesa region. As of 31 May 2017, 12 criminal cases were commenced for offences committed against journalists and other media actors. Three criminal cases were sent further to courts with indictments and 19 cases were closed under paragraph 2, part 1, Article 284 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine”, he informed.

The aim of the seminar was to raise awareness of the law enforcement representatives and judiciary on amendments to the criminal and criminal-procedural legislation, improve the skills of application of the legislation on protection of the professional activity of journalists in Ukraine, inform on the Council of Europe standards in the field of protection of the professional activity of journalists, as well as establish effective communication mechanisms between the representatives of media, civil society and the law enforcement representatives.  Also, during the seminar the online Platform on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists launched by the Council of Europe in 2015 was presented. In partnership with media organisations, the Platform monitors reported threats against journalists in the Council of Europe member States and launches calls for action to safeguard the media freedom.

During the seminar approximately 190 its participants listened to the presentations of key national and international experts. The trainers of the seminar included the Council of Europe international experts, Ukrainian media lawyers, representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, academics of the National University “Odessa Law Academy” and  media experts of the specialized civil society organisations.

The event was organised by the Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine”, Administration of the President of Ukraine, Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, National Police of Ukraine, National University “Odessa Academy of Law” and non-governmental organisation “Institute of Mass Information”.

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Council of Europe Project “Strengthening Freedom of the Media and Establishing a Public Broadcasting System in Ukraine” aims to enhance the role of media in general and the public broadcaster in particular as instruments for consensus building in the Ukrainian society. The Project is implemented in the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2015-2017.