Ukraine's Ombudsman Wants Closure Of Ukrainian Website That Leaked Journalists' Data
KYIV -- Ukraine's ombudswoman Valeria Lutkovska urged the country’s authorities on May 12 to shut down a Kyiv-based website for "violating Ukrainian laws on information and personal data." *
Earlier this week, the website Myrotvorets revealed the personal information of more than 4,000 journalists who it said were illegally accredited by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Lutkovska's call comes a day after the OSCE's representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed concerns about the safety of journalists in Ukraine following the leaks, after which some of the journalists on the list received threats.
On May 11, Kyiv's city prosecutor's office said it had launched investigations into the leaks, calling the matter an "obstruction of the professional activities of journalists."
* An earlier version of this story misidentified the ombudswoman as Russia's presidential rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova.
Crimea Realities Chief Says Ban Won't Stop Website
Pro-Russian authorities in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula have blocked access to RFE/RL's news website, Krym.Realii or Crimea Realities. The de facto prosecutor of Crimea, Natalia Poklonskaya, said on May 12 that Russia's Internet regulator, Roskomnadzor, had launched measures to shut down the site. The website's chief, Volodymyr Prytula, said in Kyiv that there are ways for readers to get around the ban. (RFE/RL's Current Time TV)
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Four Crimean Tatars detained on terror charges:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Russia-backed Crimean authorities have detained four Crimean Tatars suspected of terrorism, a charge denied by Tatar activists.
Crimea's de facto prosecutor-general, Natalia Poklonskaya, said the four men were detained on May 12 on suspicion of being members of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir organization.
A leader of the Crimean Tatars, Zair Smedlya, and human rights lawyer Emil Kuberdinov condemned the detainment of the four men, calling it the "continuation of repression against the Crimean Tatars" by pro-Russia authorities in the Ukrainian peninsula.
Several Crimean Tatars were arrested earlier this year for allegedly being Hizb ut-Tahrir members, which Tatar activists have called "politically motivated.”
Russia has been heavily criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of the Crimean Tatars since Moscow annexed the peninsula in March 2014.
Russia's Supreme Court banned Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2003, designating it a "terrorist organization." The group is also banned across Central Asia.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Sunni political organization, seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate.