Outrage as Ukrainian witch-hunt site leaks personal info of 'terrorist-collaborating journalists'

[Nathan Hale]

https://www.rt.com/news/342724-journalists-data-leak-ukraine/

"Outrage as Ukrainian witch-hunt site leaks personal info of 'terrorist-
collaborating journalists'

Published time: 12 May, 2016 07:29
Edited time: 12 May, 2016 09:03

Journalists and members of the self-defense forces on the frontline near the
village of Marinovka at the Ukrainian-Russian border. (c) Andrei Stenin /
Sputnik

Governments, NGOs and journalists across the globe have condemned a leak of
personal data of more than 4,000 media staff, accused by pro-Kiev activists of
"collaborating with terrorists" for their reporting from war-torn eastern
Ukraine.

The names on the list include people working for respectable outlets, such as
news agencies AFP, AP and Reuters, broadcasters BBC, CNN, CCTV, Deutsche Welle
and Al Jazeera, newspapers, including the New York Times, Gazeta Wyborcza and
Kyiv Post, news websites Vice News and Daily Beast and many others. RT
journalists are on the list too.

"This is a very alarming development which could further endanger the safety of
journalists, who report on issues of public interest and they should not be
harassed for doing their job," said OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media
Dunja Mijatovic.

READ MORE: 3 detained after Ukrainian journalists brutally assaulted in Odessa
with fists, shotgun (VIDEO)
https://www.rt.com/news/341747-odessa-journalists-assault-shotgun/

Some of the journalists, whose data was leaked, have complained they have
started to receive threats.

"After being accused of 'working for the terrorists' and having their personal
data, phone numbers and emails made public, they started receiving phone calls
and emails with threats, and some Ukrainian politicians have called for these
journalists to be labeled 'enemies of Ukraine' and to prevent them from working
in the country completely," an open letter, from Kiev-based journalists
representing local and international media, stated.

"We are aware that details of staff accreditation from a wide range of media
organizations - including the BBC - have been hacked. We have taken immediate
and appropriate action to protect privacy and security," said the BBC.

Publication was condemned by a number of governments, international
organizations and media organizations. EU envoy to Ukraine Jan Tombinski said
that while the leak was published by a privately-run website, he held the
Ukrainian authorities accountable for endangering journalists and said the
database should be blocked.

Read more
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister (c) Alexandr
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The website that leaked the personal data is called Mirotvorets (Peacekeeper).
It purports to be fighting separatism and terrorism and publishes personal data
of anyone its contributors consider enemies of Ukraine. Mirotvorets was founded
in January 2015 by Georgy Tuka, who now serves as a deputy to the minister
responsible for dealing with rebel-held areas and refugees. Among its high-
ranking supporters is Anton Gerashchenko, an MP and aide to the interior
minister. The website's partners include the Security Service of Ukraine and the
country's Interior Ministry.

The project has caused controversy in the past. At least two Ukrainian public
figures, writer Oles Buzina and former lawmaker Oleg Kalashnikov, were killed
days after their home addresses were published by Mirotvorets. Last year,
Gerashchenko called for leaking the personal data of Russian soldiers and
officers taking part in the counter-terrorism mission in Syria, so that Islamic
State sympathizers could find and kill them.

The latest leak includes data of journalists and NGO employees, who have been
given accreditation by the de facto authorities of the rebellious eastern
Ukrainian regions over the past two years. Gerashchenko said the data was
obtained as a result of a hack, at least a month before publication.

The Interior Minister's aid praised "patriot hackers" for exposing "a powerful
propaganda machine that has an impact on par with the propaganda by [Nazi
Germany's] Goebbels or Stalin" and demanded more budget money to fight it.

Accompanying the leak, which was first posted on May 7, but widely disseminated
this week, was a statement claiming "these journalists are cooperating with the
militants of a terrorist organization."

READ MORE: Personal details of murdered journalist & ex-MP found posted on
Ukrainian 'enemies of state' database
https://www.rt.com/news/250529-ukraine-journalists-killed-database/

Derek Monroe, independent reporter and writer, who has received death threats
from people unhappy with his reporting on the Ukraine crisis, told RT that
serious measures should be undertaken in order to protect journalists, as the
information can now "trickle down everywhere" and "once it's comes out of the
box, it's very hard to put back."

"What happened in Kiev is not only illegal, but is an outrage," Monroe said.

Investigative journalist Russ Baker said the fact that journalists might
nowadays "by definition" be regarded as enemies points towards a significant
growth of extremism.

"The situation in the Ukraine is particularly striking because the fact that
these people even think that a journalist going to an area makes them an enemy
just indicates how extremism has risen to a rather staggering level. Journalists
always go to war-zones, they always go to places where there is conflict, and to
think that by definition that makes them unfair or somebody that needs to be
threatened is pretty staggering," Baker told RT." [end quote]

[JTEM is Magic]

Gee, it’s almost as if western intelligence agencies
Are involved here, making those lists.

“Information is a weapon.”