Another news item, this time from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Ukrainian Appeals Court Overturns Decision To Release RFE/RL Journalists’ Personal Data
KYIV -- A Ukrainian appeals court has overturned a lower court's ruling to allow investigators temporary access to editorial communication and other data of journalists working for a joint project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and UA:Pershy television in a case that raised concerns about press freedom in the country.
Judge Olha Yurdyha of the Kyiv Appellate Court ruled on November 12 that the decision by Kyiv's Pechera District Court to allow temporary access to the information must be withdrawn and the investigators' request to obtain such access must be reviewed again by the same court.
Vira Krat, a lawyer representing the Skhemy (Schemes) joint venture, said she was pleased with the ruling.
"I hail the court's decision, because the [the Pechera District Court's] decision is canceled now, and there is no threat of searches of RFE/RL's offices. Our next step is to win the new hearing in the court of the first instance," Krat told RFE/RL.
The Pechera court on October 17 ruled to allow investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) to ascertain the work schedules and itineraries of the editorial staff, camera operators, and drivers, their salary information, and internal communications, including information regarding the correction-making and editing process as well as how decisions are made on what content is shown on their investigative programs.
The ruling was related to a DBR criminal investigation of whether former President Petro Poroshenko used "deliberately forged documents" and illegally crossed international borders when he and an unspecified number of people vacationed in the Maldives on January 1-8, 2018, which was the subject of a Skhemy investigation.
The journalism group aired its investigation on January 18, 2018, and in the program it hypothesized that Poroshenko may have used forged documents when traveling.
At a February 28, 2018, news conference, Poroshenko said he crossed the border using his name, "with my own passport that was properly registered with the border guards."
A news item from Current Time TV and the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Six Crimeans Get Lengthy Prison Terms On Extremism Charges
ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia -- A military court in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don has handed lengthy prison terms to six men from Crimea, five of whom are Crimean Tatars, for being members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group.
The court on November 12 sentenced Muslim Aliyev to 19 years, Enver Bekirov to 18 years, Vadym Syruk and a prominent human rights defender Emir-Useyn Kuku to 12 years, Refat Alimov to 8 years, and Arsen Dzhepparov to 7 years in prison.
The men, who were arrested in February 2016, were found guilty of "organizing and taking part in the activities of a terrorist group and plotting an armed power seizure."
All six said they were not guilty and Ayder Azamatov, a lawyer for one of the defendants, told RFE/RL that the sentences will be appealed.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is banned in Russia as a terrorist organization but operates legally in Ukraine.
However, Moscow imposed its own laws on the Crimean Peninsula after it annexed the territory in 2014.
Since Russia seized the peninsula, its authorities have prosecuted dozens of Crimean Tatars for allegedly belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries.
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed some 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK TO ENLARGE.)
