US Urges Ukraine To Probe Crimes Against Journalists As World Marks Press Freedom Day

(@FahadShabbir)

US Urges Ukraine to Probe Crimes Against Journalists as World Marks Press Freedom Day

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th May, 2021) The US Embassy in Ukraine on Monday called for investigating the crimes that have been committed in the country against journalists, in particular, late Pavel Sheremet and Georgy Gongadze, as the world marks International Day of Press Freedom.

"On World Press Freedom Day, the United States condemns threats, persecution, and violence against journalists and media workers. We call for justice to be done for journalists such as Pavel Sheremet, Georgy Gongadze, Vadym Komarov and others," embassy spokesman Daniel Langenkamp said in Ukrainian in a video, posted by the diplomatic mission on Facebook.

Sheremet, who worked for various Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian media outlets, died in a car explosion in Kiev on July 20, 2016.

Gongadze, an outspoken critic of then-President Leonid Kuchma, was kidnapped, and his headless body was found months later in a forest in September 2000. The slaying shocked Ukraine and sparked massive street protests.

Komarov, an activist and journalist known for his investigative reports on corruption, was attacked in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy in May 2019 and in a coma succumbed to his injuries in June of the same year.