The book “The Press: How Russia Destroyed Media Freedom in Crimea” presented at the Media Center Ukraine

German publishing house Ibidem has released the second, expanded edition of journalist Yuriy Lukanov’s book “The Press: How Russia Destroyed Media Freedom in Crimea”. In particular, the book highlights the measures taken by russia to destroy freedom of speech on the peninsula.

This was discussed during a presentation of the publication at the Media Center Ukraine.

“I would like to remind you that russia, for obvious reasons, took a wide range of measures to suppress freedom of speech in Crimea. One fact that confirms that russia prepared for this in advance is the legislative amendment adopted in December 2013. This amendment to the Criminal Code of the russian federation increased the penalties for calling for the disintegration of russia’s territorial integrity. Even russian experts later called this amendment ‘the Crimean amendment,'” said the author, Yuriy Lukanov, adding that several Crimean journalists were convicted under this amendment.

In general, the book covers aspects related to the persecution of professional journalists, representatives of citizen journalism, and obstacles to the activities of the media in Crimea, especially the Crimean Tatar media.

According to Valentyna Samar, editor-in-chief of the Center for Investigative Journalism, the stories and testimonies of victims and witnesses collected by the author for the first edition of “The Press: How Russia Destroyed Media Freedom in Crimea,” published in Ukrainian, formed the basis for criminal cases against russian criminals, and some of these cases have already been adjudicated.

It is worth noting that the second edition of journalist Yuriy Lukanov’s book “The Press: How Russia Destroyed Media Freedom in Crimea” has been published in English. The book was presented in the UK in February at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Financial Times editorial office, London Metropolitan University, Oxford University, the University of Glasgow and University College London.

Read more: https://mediacenter.org.ua/news