MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin (#freeAndrew), allegedly detained by Kiev armed forces, is still missing in Ukraine, with a number of other media workers beeing arrested and maltreated by the Ukrainian authorities, according to a UN report released on Friday.
"A photojournalist of the International Information Agency RIA Novosti went missing in the Donetsk region on 5 August. His colleagues allege he has been detained by Ukrainian armed forces; however the Government military spokesman has denied this. On 11 August, the police opened an investigation into his disappearance," the report states.
On August 3, Elena Blokha, the editor-in-chief of the Donetsk-based Munitsipalnaya Gazeta (Municipal Newspaper), was arrested along with her 17-year-old son, who was later released, while leaving the eastern Ukrainian city. Blokha is accused of supporting terrorism.
"According to the ruling of the investigating judge, the journalist is to be held in custody without bail for 60 days, until 4 October, while the pre-trial investigation is ongoing," the UN report says.
On August 1, another female journalist who works for the Russia Today TV channel was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the Zakarpattia region. The journalist, who is both a US and a Russian citizen, was released after three hours and reportedly obliged to leave the territory of Ukraine by August 4, according to the report.
Also on August 1, three journalists - one from the Serbian weekly Pecat, one working for the 112 Ukrainian TV channel, and a freelancer from the Luhansk region - went missing and were found five days later in Dniprodzerzhynsk by local residents.
The journalists said they were detained after crossing the Russain-Ukrainian border, were "blind-folded for five days, with their hands tied, ill-treated, threatened and forced to remove their clothes before being released separately at night".
On July 22, British freelance journalist and blogger Graham Phillips who contributed reports for the RT TV channel disappeared while covering fierce fighting near Donetsk airport. He reported being held for three days before he was taken to the Polish border and "dumped out". Ukrainian authorities banned Phillips from entering Ukraine for three years.
The Russian foreign ministry said Phillips was abducted by the Ukrainian National Guard.
Please support Andrei Stenin’s release by sharing the hashtag #FreeAndrew via the social networks. Andrei is a professional war photographer who has reported from the most dangerous war zones in the world. You can view Andrei’s pictures from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Libya here and his most recent shots from eastern Ukraine here.
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