By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, June
17, more
here --
After the
killing of
journalist
Igor Kornelyuk
by Ukrainian
mortar
shelling near
Luhansk, Inner
City Press on
June 17 asked
UN deputy
spokesperson
Farhan Haq for
the UN's
comment.
Haq said he
hadn't heard
of it, to
check with
UNESCO. But
the
Organization
for Security
and
Cooperation in
Europe already
spoke on it,
calling on
Kyiv to
investigate.
This is a
pattern. On
June 16 Inner
City Press
asked Haq why
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon hadn't
yet issued at
least a
boilerplate
condemnation
of the attack
on the Russian
embassy in
Kyiv, Haq
pointed at
Ban's
statement on
the shot down
plane.
Only a full 24
hours later,
after more
complaints,
did Haq say at
the June 17
noon briefing
that Ban had
spoken on the
embassy
attack.
Now, the US
State Department
through its
spokesperson
has expressed
condolences
for the killed
journalist the
UN's declined
comment on.
NOW will Ban
belatedly
comment?
UNESCO, we
note, is run
by a candidate
to replace Ban
Ki-moon as UN
Secretary
General.
As
Inner City
Press reported
on June 15, journalists
Evgeny Davydov
and Nikita
Konashenkov
were detained
by Ukraine's
National Guard
at the
Dnepropetrovsk
airport in the
Donetsky
region, in
what is
becoming a pattern,
on June
14.
In
this they are
at least
luckier than
Italian
journalist
Andrea
Rocchelli and
his
interpreter
Andrey
Mironov, both
killed in May
in the run up
to the
election.
With the UN
Security
Council yet
to issue its
usual
boilerplate
press
statement
citing the
Vienna
Convention
after the
attack on
Russia's
embassy in
Kyiv, any
statement on
the detention
of these
journalists
seem even more
UNlikely.
When the UN
Security
Council met
after the
election,
Lithuania's
Ambassador
cited the
killed young
Italian
journalist
without
mentioning
(Russian)
Mironov, nor
that
authorities
killed both of
them. While others might
take this
approach,
at the UN the
Free
UN Coalition
for Access
says
journalists
are
journalists,
just as
civilians are
civilians.
On that, it's
similar to the
reaction of
some to
Ukraine's air
force bombing
Luhansk, click
here for more
on that.
Back on May 25
amid voting in
Ukraine,
Italian
journalist
Andrea
Rocchelli and
his
interpreter
Andrey Mironov
were found
dead near the
village of
Andreevka
outside
Slavyansk on
May 25.
Rocchelli had
been taking
photographs,
for example of
children
seeking
protection
from shelling
in a basement
in Slavyansk's
Cherevkovka
neighborhood.
Italian
Foreign
Minister
Federica
Mogherini
confirmed the
deaths;
another
photographer
who was
traveling with
Rocchelli and
Mironov said
they were hit
by mortar fire
as they were
taking shelter
in a roadside
ditch; it's
reported the
journalists
came under
shelling from
Ukrainian
troops late on
May 24.
If this
happened say
in Syria, what
would the
reaction be?
What will the
reaction be
now?
On May 23 when
Ukraine's
Permanent
Representative
to the UN Yuriy
Sergeyev
held a press
conference
two days
before the
elections,
Inner City
Press began by
asking him why
chocolate
magnate Petro
Poroshenko had
not agreed to
participate in
debates. (On
May 25, Poroshenko
is pictured
voting, here.)
Sergeyev
replied
that he
understands
Poroshenko
would, if
there is a
second round.
Then
Inner City
Press asked
Sergeyev about
the “UN”
painted
helicopters
shown by
LifeNews as
being in
Ukraine, and
about the two
LifeNews
journalists
then detained.
Sergeyev
said
he contacted
his
government's
defense
department and
was assured
that
helicopters
that serve for
pay in UN
peacekeeping
mission
returned
painted white
but with the
UN insignia
“erased.” He
said the
filming was
not in
Ukraine.
Inner
City Press
asked if it
was in a UN
peacekeeping
mission why
the soldiers
around the
copter were in
camouflage and
not UN blue
helmets. This
has not been
answered.
On the
LifeNews
journalists,
Sergeyev said
they had
confessed to
not being
“pure
journalists”
and had
revealed
Ukraine
military
positions.
Inner
City Press
asked if that
wasn't always
a possible
charge of war
reporters. It
might also be
asked which
others
detained while
engaged in
acts of
journalism,
sometimes, are
not “pure
journalists.”
The Free
UN Coalition
for Access
supports these
journalists
and continued
to ask about
their fate, as
it asked
the UN's Ivan
Simonovic in late May.
The two were
later
released, and
have said they
were held with
sacks over
their heads,
arms and legs
tied.
On a
second round
of questions
on May 23,
Inner City
Press asked
about the four
or five
investigations
of the May 2
murders in
Odessa that Simonovic
had described.
Sergeyev said
Simonovic must
have been
referring to
four or five
versions of
events,
because there
are only
Ukrainian
investigations.
Inner
City Press at
the day's noon
briefing asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Stephane
Dujarric how
many
investigations
of Odessa
there are, and
if one
involving the
Organization
for the
Prevention of
Chemical
Weapons is
being
considered.
And so far
from the UN,
nothing on the
detention of
journalists
Evgeny Davydov
and Nikita
Konashenkov.
Watch this
site.
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