H.E. Leonid Kuchma
President
252005 Kiev
Ukraine

Fax: 00380-44-293-7364/291-6161/293-1001

Vienna, 27 June 2003

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives, and leading journalists in over 115 countries, condemns the decision of the Ukrainian government to restrict the movement of a Romanian journalist.

According to information before IPI, Victor Roncea, chief of the foreign policy department of the Romanian daily ZIUA, and a Romanian citizen with a right of residency in the U.S., who was to have visited the Black sea countries as part of his involvement in a US Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was declared “persona non grata” in the Ukraine. Indeed, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that Roncea is banned from entering the country for a period of five years.

While Roncea has had little involvement with the Ukrainian authorities, it is believed that their actions stem from an incident in 2000 when the reporter was travelling on a train from Bucharest to Moscow to cover the Russian presidential elections. When he arrived at the Ukrainian border, Roncea, along with a Russian translator, was held for 17 hours and subsequently sent back to Romania. It is also believed that the Ukrainian government have been angered by ZIUAs coverage of the murder of independent journalist, Ghiorghi Gongadze.

With regard to the incident, IPI believes that the ban on Roncea by the Ukrainian authorities is a breach of not only press freedom but also his right of movement. IPI would remind Your Excellency that under Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights individuals have the right to receive and impart information without fear of harassment or intimidation. By seeking to exclude Roncea in this manner, the Ukrainian government is showing scant regard for this international standard on freedom of the media.

Therefore, IPI calls on Your Excellency to review the decision regarding Roncea and to allow him to enter the country. By doing so, you will be upholding press freedom and the rights of the media to report freely.

We thank you for your attention.

Johann P. Fritz
IPI Director