Famous Ukrainian editor asked for political asylum in Austria

The editor-in-chief of the Kyiv online newspaper “Strana” Igor Guzhva left Ukraine and asked for political asylum in Austria.

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This is stated in published by on the publication’s website, an appeal (the text of which is published below) from the editors to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

Peter Alekseevich!

In just two weeks it will be two years since the start of the online newspaper “Strana”.

It probably won’t surprise you if we say that all this time we felt increased attention to ourselves from you. And also from the officials and security forces under your control.

We, of course, would like this attention to be expressed in a civilized reaction to our publications, in the opening of criminal proceedings after our corruption investigations, in a dialogue to find solutions to the problems in the life of the country that our site raised.

But you chose a different path. A path of unprecedented pressure on our online newspaper, the likes of which have never been seen in the history of Ukraine.

On your orders against the editor-in-chief of “Strana” 5 criminal cases have already been fabricated, and he himself was for several days thrown into prison. In our editorial office and in the apartments of our journalists illegal searches are taking place. We constantly receive threats of physical violence from groups and individuals under your control, and our requests for protection from law enforcement agencies remain unanswered.

Your goal is to intimidate us into changing our editorial policy. And if it doesn’t work out, then destroy us, hunt down and throw the newspaper’s leaders into prison.

But we want to say that you won’t succeed.

You can bring dozens more criminal cases against us. You can put pressure on various publications, their journalists and owners, block television broadcasts, but you must understand that there will always be a percentage of “other” media that are not afraid of you or your methods of fighting journalists.

For two and a half years, we have learned to live and work under total pressure from you. Moreover, thanks also to the attacks organized by the security forces under your control, the whole country learned about us, and we took a leading position among online media.

You followed us, you wiretapped us, with the help of political satellites like Lyashko you fabricated cases against us, you tried to discredit us, but we survived and became strong.

We understand that there is just over a year left before the elections and you will stop at nothing to shut up those journalists who have the courage to criticize you.

It is very important for you to win the elections.

You are getting ready.

And we are getting ready.

We are preparing to continue our work in the most difficult, pre-election time.

Therefore, we took a number of actions.

We have protected our site from possible blocking.

We have worked out a scheme for journalists to work outside the office, in case of new attacks and searches.

And most importantly, the editor-in-chief of our publication, Igor Guzhva, was removed from the attack, whom you imposed criminal charges on as if you were offshore.

We would like to inform you that Igor Guzhva went to Vienna and asked for political asylum from the authorities of the Austrian Republic in accordance with the accepted procedure. We emphasize that Igor Guzhva left for Austria after his preventive measure, determined by the court, expired and he received the legal right to leave Ukraine.

Igor Guzhva remains the editor-in-chief of the publication and continues to manage “Strana” from abroad. Our website will operate in the same format, increasing momentum and actively developing.

All these measures make us ready for any scenario. Nothing and no one will stop us, as before, from working honestly for our readers, telling the truth about the situation in the country.

Editorial office of the online newspaper “Strana”