Due to the postponement of a hearing in the case of RIA Novosti Ukraine head Kirill Vyshinsky, Russian High Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova has once requested the international organizations to facilitate his release.
“I request United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic, and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir to actively facilitate the release of prisoner of conscience Kirill Vyshinsky,” Moskalkova said in a statement released on Friday.
The human rights commissioner said that journalists’ opportunity to exercise their activities “in accordance with universally recognized principles and norms of international law” should be guaranteed.
Moskalkova said she is “extremely concerned” that the Friday hearing of the Ukrainian Supreme Court in Vyshninsky’s case has been postponed for March 20.
“I have repeatedly called on relevant international organizations to take stern measures in response to the prosecution of a journalist, who is unwelcome for Kyiv, carried out in violations of the provision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, according to which everyone has the right to freely adhere to their views and freely disseminate information,” she said.
