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Ukrainian Journalists, Artists In Censorship Protest


Activists demonstrate in support of Ukrainian TV Channel 5 outside a court building in Kyiv.
Activists demonstrate in support of Ukrainian TV Channel 5 outside a court building in Kyiv.
More than 100 Ukrainian journalists and artists have taken to the streets of Kyiv in a protest over perceived censorship on the country's television networks.

Protesters rallied outside a courthouse as judges discussed the attribution of frequencies to two Ukrainian television channels, TVi and Channel 5, which are seen as independent of state control.

"Freedom of speech and justice should exist everywhere on Earth, without exception, and if every person starts with freedom of speech on a personal level with himself and those around him, then everything else will be fine," writer Dmitry Kapranovy said at the rally.

Private channels TVi and Channel 5 are at loggerheads with one of the main national networks, Inter TV Channel, whose owner, Valery Khoroshkovsky, is one of the country's richest businessmen and also head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

The court today delayed its decision on the case.

compiled from agency reports

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