PACE called for additional measures for effectively protecting journalists' lives

PanARMENIAN.Net - PACE calls for parliamentary investigations into the unresolved murders of journalists and announces a specific monitoring mechanism. While underlining the importance of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights for the protection of media freedom throughout Europe, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) today called for additional measures for effectively protecting the lives and freedom of expression of journalists. The Assembly called on the Russian Parliament to closely monitor the progress of the criminal investigation into the murder of Anna Politkovskaya and to hold the authorities accountable for any failure to investigate or prosecute. It also asked the Turkish Parliament to abolish Article 301 of the penal code on the "denigration of Turkishness". As regards the murder of Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze, the Assembly expressed concern at the lack of progress in the investigation, reports the Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit.