On July 20, Ukraine marks one year since the assassination of Pavel Sheremet, a prominent Eastern European journalist. Please find here the statement of Rebecca Harms, Member of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament and Co-President of Euronest, concerning the lack of investigative progress into his murder:
"Ukrainian authorities must deliver on their promises to find and prosecute all persons responsible for the murder of the journalist Pavel Sheremet. The finding of the recent special report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), that the case on the Sheremet murder has gone cold is highly worrisome. According to the report there are signs of lack of political will and pressure to finalize the investigations and serious gaps in the official investigation which need to be addressed and effectively incorporated into the official inquiry.
I very much welcome President Poroshenko's vowing to personally assist the investigation and to invite foreign experts to help solve the murder case of Pavel Sheremet. I hope that partners of Ukraine, including the European Union, can provide any financial and technical assistance that would allow for an independent investigation.
Ukrainian authorities made recent progress through the adoption of a number of media reforms, including the creation of public broadcasting, fostering media ownership transparency and access to state-held information. However, Ukraine needs an effective system to protect journalists from violence and the murder of a journalist cannot go unpunished."photo copyright © Radio Vesti
