The head of the Volyn representation of "Our Ukraine," Volodymyr Bondar, accused the regional authorities and the regional police of involvement in the fire involving the car of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Vilna Dumka," which is published in Volyn, Mykola Panasiuk, which occurred last week. According to the people's deputy and the editor himself, this happened as a result of arson, which was reported to the local press during a press conference that took place on December 15.
Volodymyr Bondar stated "an offensive by the regional authorities against the democratic Volyn press." The people's deputy believes the situation that occurred is not simply pressure on the media or a warning to journalists who try to write and speak the truth — it is a challenge to democracy and a challenge to the Ukrainian Constitution. "The trend of problems with vehicles appeared with the arrival of the Rivne police team. First of all, the hero A. Frantsuz and Colonel O. Kmita" — says the deputy. Negative things have happened to representatives of "Our Ukraine" repeatedly over the recent period. Therefore, Volodymyr Bondar believes that the authorities are conducting systematic work aimed at the physical destruction of not only representatives of the bloc, but of opposition forces in general.
"What is happening with the press — twisting arms and forcing people to subscribe to periodicals that 'think correctly' — is one of the ways to fight freethinking" — emphasized Volodymyr Bondar. Although the people's elected representative is convinced that "with these methods the authorities will achieve nothing, rather the opposite — they will strengthen the negative attitude of the public toward the authorities." The head of "Our Ukraine" in Volyn will call on Volyn residents to picket the regional department of internal affairs if the results of cases important to society are not announced in the near future, or if no report is made on the results of the regional police's work in resolving them. Given that high-profile cases still remain unsolved, Volodymyr Bondar believes that "the Volyn police have reached the highest level of cynicism in political persecution." The deputy stated that "Our Ukraine" reserves the right to expose illegal actions of the police and to take measures for their punishment.
Volodymyr Bondar promised journalists to do everything in his power to protect their rights, but the people's deputy is convinced that "as long as this government rules in Ukraine, dirty and illegal methods will be used. Therefore, it must be changed, resorting to any legal methods."
Mykola Panasiuk addressed fellow journalists with a call not to be afraid, because "fear and intimidation are manifestations of contempt." The editor of "Vilna Dumka" praises the courage of editors of local publications who speak about censorship and pressure. He is convinced: through joint efforts, problems can be solved.
The participants of the press conference were representatives of the People's Movement of Ukraine (Volodymyr Banada), the Ukrainian People's Party (Bohdan Shyba), "Volynskyi Krai" (Ruslan Tymoshchuk), and representatives of other opposition forces also spoke about negative trends in the information space of Volyn.