Searches Of Vyshinsky's Attorney Home Attempt To Pressure Court - Rossiya Segodnya Chief

The searches of home and office of Andriy Domansky, the attorney of RIA Novosti Ukraine web portal chief Kirill Vyshinsky, constitute an attempt to exert pressure on the court and are a manifestation of lawlessness, Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, told Sputnik on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2019) The searches of home and office of Andriy Domansky, the attorney of RIA Novosti Ukraine web portal chief Kirill Vyshinsky, constitute an attempt to exert pressure on the court and are a manifestation of lawlessness, Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, told Sputnik on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, Domansky said that his home and office had been searched along with the home of his aide. Domansky suggested that searches might constitute Kiev's attempt to exert pressure on Vyshinsky's defense.

"What has happened represents severe pressure not only on journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, but also on the attorney, who represents his interests. What is especially mean about this situation is the fact that the searches were carried out in the absence of Andriy Domansky himself, who is currently with his defendant in Kherson ... This is an apparent pressure on the court at the moment when the documents on Vyshinsky's case have already been submitted to the court. This is intimidation of judges, a situation of complete lawlessness in which Ukraine as a whole and Ukrainian media exist," Kiselev stressed.

Vyshinsky was detained in Kiev on May 15 on suspicion of supporting the breakaway eastern Ukrainian regions and on treason charges. The maximum penalty for such offense is 15 years of imprisonment. In late December, Vyshinsky's detention was extended until January 27, while the prosecutor's office filed a request to further extend the journalist's detention until February 16, which will be considered by a Kherson court later on Thursday.

Vyshinsky's detention has prompted widespread condemnation by journalists' rights groups, which called it undemocratic. Harlem Desir, the representative on freedom of the media at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), has urged for the journalist's release, recalling that all OSCE member states have pledged to create conditions for journalists to work freely.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Vyshinsky's arrest was politically motivated and an example of how Kiev unacceptably targeted journalists for doing their job. The Russian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Ukrainian authorities stop its crackdown on press freedom.