In a letter sent to President Viktor Yanukovych, WAN-IFRA expressed serious concern that the attacks may be related to Express’s critical reporting of local officials, and called on the Ukrainian leader “to take all possible steps to ensure the campaign of intimidation is halted immediately.”

In the latest case, General Director Andrey Vey was taken from his home on 12 April for questioning at the office of the regional prosecutor. When Express journalists arrived to find out the reason for Mr. Vey’s questioning, police beat them and a video camera was broken.

This follows several previous incidents including a suspected arson attack on Director/Editor-in-Chief Igor Pochynok’s home, a smear campaign and threat of criminal prosecution against Mr Pochynok, and the shooting out of windows at the Express offices.

In recent months, Express has published a series of articles drawing attention to the costly refurbishment of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office while schools and other basic services remain under-funded, as well as exposing corruption among local deputies and traffic police.

In what appears to be an organised campaign of harassment in response to the publication’s critical reporting, WAN-IFRA called on the authorities to fully investigate the case and ensure “an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of violence or intimidation”.

The full letter read:

“We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern at attacks against the Express newspaper, in what appears to be an organised campaign of harassment in response to critical reporting about the local authorities.

“According to reports, on the morning of 12 April two people claiming to be law-enforcement officials forcibly took Express General Director Andrey Vey from his home to the office of the regional prosecutor for questioning. In doing so, Mr Vey was forced to leave a seven-month-old baby and six-year-old child alone at home. When Express journalists came to the prosecutor’s office to find out reasons for the questioning, they were beaten by police and a video camera was smashed.

“This appears to be part of a campaign of harassment by the authorities against Express, which includes a suspected arson attack on Director/Editor-in-Chief Igor Pochynok’s home, a smear campaign and threat of criminal prosecution against Mr Pochynok, and the shooting out of windows at Express’s office.

“We are particularly concerned at reports that the harassment may be related to Express’s reporting. In recent months it has published a series of articles drawing attention to the costly refurbishment of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office while schools and other basic services remain underfunded, as well as exposing corruption among local deputies and the traffic police.

“We respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of violence or intimidation.

“We respectfully call on you to ensure that the harassment of Mr Vey, Mr Pochynok and Express is thoroughly investigated and that those responsible are brought to account. We urge you to take all possible steps to ensure that the campaign of intimidation is halted immediately.”

More WAN-IFRA press freedom protests can be found at www.wan-press.org/pfreedom/rubrique....

WAN-IFRA is the global organization for the world’s newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

Learn more about WAN-IFRA at www.wan-ifra.org or through the WAN-IFRA Magazine.

Inquiries to: Larry Kilman, Director of Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, 7 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France. Tel: +33 6 10 28 97 36. E-mail: larry.kilman@wan-ifra.org.