The International Press Institute has condemned the arrest and detainment of two Russia Today (RT) reporters in the United States.
US nationals Kaelyn Forde and Jon Conway were detained on 20 November as they covered an annual demonstration in front of Fort Benning Army Base in Columbus, Georgia.
Forde and Conway were charged with unlawful assembly, demonstrating without a permit and failing to obey police orders, according to The Associated Press. They were both reportedly held for 29 hours before being freed on a US $1,300 bond.
“There will be a court hearing,” RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan told RIA Novosti.
U.S. lawyer Gary Adler, who will be representing RT at the hearings, said he believed the court trial would begin “in a month or two,” the news outlet reported.
The OSCE has joined IPI and other press freedom groups in condemning the arrests.
“The fact that local police officers would detain, handcuff and arrest members of the press as they engaged in their duty to report on a public event is disturbing,” OSCE Rpresentative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said, according to RIA Novosti.
“While it is clear that police play a crucial role in maintaining order during public demonstrations, the rounding up of media and bringing charges against them seems to go well beyond what is necessary to keep the peace.”
IPI Acting Director Alison Bethel McKenzie said: “We would urge the US authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the arrest. Journalists have a right to report on demonstrations, and the police must be sensitized to this, so that journalists can do their jobs without fear of arrest.”