Committee to Protect Journalists comments on Babchenko “murder”
The international NGO "Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko to answer the question - Why has the Kiev government not yet completed the investigation and accused Russian special forces of preparing the murder of journalist Arkady Babchenko?
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| Arkady Babchenko. |
Human rights experts also expressed concern about the potential consequences for press freedom in Ukraine. "The staging of this murder could undermine public trust in the work of journalists and reduce resentment in society if journalists are killed," the document noted.
Among the questions CPJ put to the Ukrainian government were the Ukrainian Security Service's request to provide evidence of the involvement of Russian special forces, who was the main mastermind of the assassination, who were the 30 people who appeared to be on the list of those eliminated, and whether Alexey Tsimbalyuk, who claimed to have been responsible for Babchenko's murder, had been arrested.
In addition, human rights activists are concerned about why the Security Service of Ukraine needed to resort to such "extreme measures" as announcing Babchenko's murder.
CPJ urges Poroshenko to answer these questions, as well as ensure a public trial of the suspects in the assassination.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced that journalist Babchenko was shot dead in the doorway of his Kiev apartment. The information was sent to the media. Photos of the suspect's robot were released.
The next day, the journalist appeared at a press conference of the Security Service of Ukraine. The head of the department, Vasily Gritsak, congratulated him on his "third birthday." According to Gritsak, SBU officers had received information that Babchenko would be killed and prevented the plot. Gritsak said that the assassin was a Ukrainian "recruited by the Russian intelligence agency."
The Kremlin said the Ukrainian authorities must be held accountable for the official's words about Russia's involvement in the assassination, otherwise they will be like "the British colleagues."
