Ukraine's Ombudsman Wants Closure Of Ukrainian Website That Leaked Journalists' Data

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian ServiceLast updated (GMT/UTC): 12.05.2016 14:46

KYIV -- Ukraine's ombudswoman Valeria Lutkovska urged the country’s authorities on May 12 to shut down a Kyiv-based website for "violating Ukrainian laws on information and personal data." *

Earlier this week, the website Myrotvorets revealed the personal information of more than 4,000 journalists who it said were illegally accredited by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Lutkovska's call comes a day after the OSCE's representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, expressed concerns about the safety of journalists in Ukraine following the leaks, after which some of the journalists on the list received threats.

On May 11, Kyiv's city prosecutor's office said it had launched investigations into the leaks, calling the matter an "obstruction of the professional activities of journalists."

* An earlier version of this story misidentified the ombudswoman as Russia's presidential rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova.