Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced this Saturday that it has filed a complaint against Russia before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine. due to the attacks that have destroyed broadcast antennas of dozens of radios and televisions in that country to prevent them from broadcasting.
The complaint, formalized this Friday before the ICC Prosecutor’s Office, is based on the argument that a broadcasting antenna cannot be considered a military objective unless it is used by the Army, if it is temporarily dedicated to military use or if it has simultaneously a civil and military use.
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RSF explains in a statement that in its procedure it shows that the TV towers were for civilian use only, meaning the attacks were on Ukrainian media whom Moscow has accused of participating in an information strategy.
The organization for the defense of press freedom also underlines the “intentional” nature of the destruction of the towers and the fact that they are being carried out on a large scale, which shows that there is “a deliberate plan”.
They want the ICC Prosecutor’s Office to integrate its denunciation of crimes against the media in the investigations it has launched into what is happening in Ukraine.
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“Deliberately bombing numerous media infrastructures such as television antennas constitutes a war crime and demonstrates the extent of the offensive launched by (Vladimir) Putin against the right to informationRSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire said.
On March 1, 32 Ukrainian television channels and several dozen radio stations were deprived of broadcasting due to the destruction of a Kiev broadcasting tower by Russian troops.
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RSF insists that this infrastructure was exclusively for civilian use, noting that since then Russia has multiplied attacks against other television towers.
He is aware of at least three other radio and television antennas in Korosten, Lysychansk and Kharkiv having been bombed. In addition, two broadcasters have ceased to function once the Russian military has taken control of Melitopol and Kherson.
EFE
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