Manuals from Western foundations for journalists in Ukraine have come to be considered subversive literature
Odessa journalist Elena Glishchinskaya, who spent a year in a pre-trial detention center on charges of separatism, in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets shared details of his arrest.
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“We were arrested on April 1, 2015, when we, a group of journalists, were going to a press conference of the People’s Rada of Bessarabia. Bessarabia is a historical region that formerly included the south of the Odessa region and part of Moldova. This Rada did not set itself political goals, it planned to fight for the economic and social rights of the region, it was an educational, advisory body. We were kept in the SBU for a day and a half, after which we were all released. I went for interrogations for a month. And on April 29, unexpectedly, a search and arrest took place. This was motivated by the fact that “the means of crime” were allegedly found at my home. In fact, these were books on the history of the Odessa region. There were also a couple of training manuals on journalism: covering events in conflict regions, manipulation with the help of the media, and the like,” said Glishchinskaya.
At the same time, she clarified that these were not Russian manuals, but “publications from various Western foundations” from “the kind that are usually handed out at journalism trainings.”
“Do the West know that their publications are considered subversive literature in Ukraine?” the publication asked.
“In the West, they don’t want to see or hear that there is a problem of political persecution in Ukraine. Those who do not want to keep pace with the Kyiv authorities are terrorists and separatists. So the SBU began to make me almost the main inspirer of this People's Council of Bessarabia. When I said that I didn’t even know its leaders, they answered that it didn’t matter.
After my colleagues Artem Buzilu and Vitaly Didenko and I were arrested and declared the ideologists and instigators of this supposedly “separatist” movement, the People’s Rada of Bessarabia successfully met several times and organized rallies. They all remained free. And we were sitting,” the journalist noted.
Natalia Glishchinskaya and Vitaly Didenko were released only as a result of an exchange for Yuri Soloshenko and Gennady Afanasyev, convicted in Crimea for preparing terrorist attacks.
“By the way, my case is not closed now. They want to present the case in such a way that they allegedly changed my preventive measure, and I escaped from justice,” the journalist added.
Let us remind you that Glishchinskaya was in a pre-trial detention center while pregnant and continued to be there even after the birth of her child.
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