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Human rights ombudsperson asks to check validity of Russian reporter’s expulsion from Kiev

According to Ella Pamfilova, the absence of court ruling on recognizing the reporter’s work "anti-Ukrainian and destructive" calls into question the existence of the legal basis for her deportation
Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsperson Ella Pamfilova Mikhail Pochuev/TASS
Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsperson Ella Pamfilova
© Mikhail Pochuev/TASS

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The absence of the court ruling calls into question the legal basis for the deportation of a Russian journalist from Ukraine, says a formal letter of Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsperson Ella Pamfilova addressed to her Ukrainian counterpart Valeria Lutkovskaya.

According to Pamfilova, it’s necessary to check "the legal grounds for the detainment and expulsion from Ukraine" of Russia’s TV Channel One correspondent Alexandra Cherepnina.

"Multiple questions emerge concerning the very process of detainment," the letter says. "The absence of the court ruling on recognizing the reporter’s work ‘anti-Ukrainian and destructive’ calls into question the existence of the legal basis for her deportation."

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Security Service expelled Alexandra Cherepnina, a correspondent of Russia’s TV Channel One, from Kiev, accusing her of fabricating a news port.

The channel’s deputy director Kirill Kleimenov told TASS that the reason for her expulsion, according to Ukrainian security officers, was the alleged fabrication of a report about a little girl threatening to slaughter Russians. He added that the channel ran the story on June 24.

According to a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Security Service, the journalist has been banned from entering Ukraine for three years "for anti-Ukrainian activities and for making destructive stories aimed against Ukrainian authorities and military."