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12May16

Ukraine's Security Council promises not to prosecute journalists accredited in Donbass

Ukraine's Security Service will not prosecute journalists who were once accredited in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), Yuri Tandit, an adviser to the Security Service chief, said on Thursday, commenting on the release of personal data of journalists who worked in Donbass.

"There are the DPR and LPR and, naturally, a journalist needs certain permits to get there. We understand that this is not a crime. We understand that they have to do it," Ukrainskaya Pravda quoted him as saying.

In the meantime, Tandit said that some persons "use press cards as a disguise." "In such cases, after the undeclared war is over we will take certain actions within the current laws to understand what these pseudo-journalists were really doing," he said. However he did not name any of such "pseudo-journalists."

Earlier reports said that the Kiev-based website Mirotvorets (Peacekeeper) released information on more than 4,000 journalists from different countries who were accredited by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). The website accused those journalists of cooperation "with terrorist organizations." The data include first names and surnames, places of work, positions, home countries, mobile phone numbers, email addresses and dates of stay in the territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government.

Commenting of this release, Russian Foreign Minister Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it is an abuse of declared freedoms in favor of political ambitions and demonstrates that rights and freedoms of thousands of people have been violated. OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic expressed concern on Wednesday over journalists' safety as their personal data had been leaked in Ukraine.

[Source: Itar Tass, Kiev, 12May16]
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