Director-General condemns murder of Russian cameraman Anatoli Klian
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, today denounced the murder of Russian television journalist Anatoli Klian, who was killed on the night of 30 June, near Donetsk in the eastern region of Ukraine.
“I condemn the killing of Anatoli Klian,” said the Director-General. “I call on the authorities to do everything possible to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice. Journalists covering current events in Ukraine should be able to carry out their mission of providing information and nurturing informed debate, without fearing for their lives.”
Anatoli Klian, 68, was an employee of the Russian television network Perviy Kanal. He was shot dead while filming with his crew near a Ukrainian military base in the Donetsk region.
Since January 2014, the Director-General has condemned the murders of six journalists in Ukraine. They are remembered on the dedicated page, UNESCO condemns the killing of journalists.
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Media contact: Sylvie Coudray, s.coudray(at)unesco.org, +33 (0)1 45 68 42 12
UNESCO is the United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”
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