[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING THE MEMORY AND COURAGE OF JOURNALISTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB SCHAFFER

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory and the 
courage of journalists who have given their lives in the pursuit of 
truth.
  I rise to commend organizations like the National Ukrainian 
Journalists Union, a group dedicated to the protection of Ukrainian 
journalists, the abolition of censorship and the defense of free 
speech.
  In many developing countries, harassment, in the form of threats, 
arrest, and even kidnapping and murder is used as a tool to silence 
journalists who dare to report the truth. No single attempt at 
censorship has sparked more protest than the disappearance and murder 
of Greorgiy Honhadze in Ukraine in 2000. This crime cast international 
attention on the systemic oppression of freedom of expression, and cast 
significant doubts on the level of democratic development in Ukraine.
  The death of Honhadze, the beating death of Ihor Aleksandrov, the 
director of a television station in the Donetsk region of eastern 
Ukraine in July 2001, and most recently, the death of Mykhailo 
Kolomiyets, the director of a news agency in Kyiv, Ukrainian News, 
reinforce doubt about the state of freedom in Ukraine. The lethargic 
pursuit of the investigations of these deaths by authorities indicates 
official apathy if not tacit approval.
  Mr. Speaker, continued government control of the media, and often 
violent oppression of freedom of expression denies the Ukranian people 
their inalienable human rights and prevents democracy from rooting and 
growing in Ukraine. Therefore, I call upon my Colleagues in the 
Congress to urge the government of Ukraine to resolve the deaths of 
these journalists expeditiously, to implement an agenda for the defense 
of free speech, and to recognize the fourth day of December as ``a day 
of sorrow for lost journalists.''

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