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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Elections & Legislation : Media : Regime |
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Media groups protest freeze Of Ukrainian TV funds |
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by Radio Liberty via Scott Edwards
Email: scottisimo (nospam) hotmail.com (verified) |
28 Oct 2004
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International media watchdogs today called on a Ukrainian court to reverse a ruling that froze the accounts of Ukraine's only independent TV station, Channel 5, less than two weeks before the presidential elections.
The bank accounts of Channel 5 were frozen on 18 October after independent legislator Volodymyr Sivkovych sued one of the station's owners — opposition lawmaker Petro Poroshenko.
Soria Blatmann, who heads the Europe desk of the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, told RFE/RL: "[The case] is completely political. It is not acceptable. The media, journalists — information is the only victim in this case, especially opposition information. It is so amazing and strange that two weeks before the elections this only [opposition] channel is going to close. It's an anomaly. This does not have to happen in a democracy. We are going to ask the Ukrainian authorities to come back on this decision."
Aidan White, secretary-general of the International Federation of Journalists, told RFE/RL that if Channel 5 is closed down, it would "absolutely render it impossible to have independent opinions heard prior to the elections."
Ukraine is due to hold presidential elections on 31 October. |
Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
