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Violence against journalists

OSCE demands Ukraine probe into journalist's killing

Representative on Freedom of the Media with the OSCE Dunja Mijatovic says Andrei Stenin's death is a gruesome reminder of the ongoing and alarming situation in eastern Ukraine

© ITAR-TASS/Artyom Geodakyan

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Andrey Stenin, Russian photojournalist killed in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW, September 03. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s authorities should investigate how Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin died, a European official said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Stenin’s death is a gruesome reminder of the ongoing and alarming situation concerning journalists’ safety in the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” said Dunja Mijatovic, Representative on Freedom of the Media with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

“I call on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate all killings and attacks on members of the media in Ukraine and to do so swiftly and thoroughly,” she said.

Stenin, a photographer with one of Russia’s largest state-run news agencies Rossiya Segodnya (former RIA Novosti), disappeared in embattled south-east Ukraine while covering the armed conflict in Donetsk, Sloviansk and other hot spots. Contact with him was lost on August 5.

Rossiya Segodnya confirmed on Wednesday that his death had been established by forensic experts. Russia's Investigative Committee says the photographer died when Ukrainian military opened fire on a refugee convoy.

Russia's Foreign Ministry has demanded that Kiev carries out a thorough and unbiased investigation and punish those responsible for Stenin's death.

Russian ambassador to the OSCE Andrei Kelin said Russia would demand that Ukraine launches an inquiry into the circumstances. “We will discuss the issue at Thursday’s meeting of the (OSCE) Permanent Council,” he said.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland also condemned on Wednesday the killings of journalists in Ukraine, commenting on the confirmed death of Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin. Killing reporters was inadmissible and the bloodshed had to be stopped, he said.

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Ukraine OSCE Journalism

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The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

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