Ukrainska Pravda reporters face online threats for reporting on politician

Journalists from the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda received threats after reporting on former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the parliamentary party Batkivshchyna, who was vacationing in Dubai earlier in the month.

The news item published on Ukrainska Pravda as a video report resulted in widespread outrage and called for Tymoshenko to be expelled from the party. Reporter Mykhailo Tkach, head editor Sevgil Musaieva, and Ukrainska Pravda’s social media profiles received numerous threatening threats since the investigation’s publication.

The European and Central Asia programme coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the protection of the reporters. ‘Ukrainian authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the menacing messages sent to Ukrainska Pravda journalists Mykhailo Tkach and Sevgil Musaieva, and ensure that press members do not face harassment over their work.’