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Alert

License of radio station that rebroadcasts BBC revoked ten days before vote on the exclusion of Ukraine from the Council of Europe

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to President of the Ukrainian National Audiovisual Council (UNAC) Boris Kholod, RSF protested the revocation of Radio Continent's license. Radio Continent is the station where murdered journalist Georgiy Gongadze worked, and which rebroadcasts some programmes by foreign stations in the Ukraine, including the BBC. "Once again, under the disguise of legal and fiscal justifications, the authorities have disproportionately sanctioned a media outlet that is independent and critical of the regime," stated Robert Ménard, RSF's secretary-general. "At a time when Ukraine is being threatened with exclusion from the Council of Europe for its repressive methods towards the press, we call on you to reconsider this excessive sanction."




According to information obtained by RSF, UNAC cancelled Radio Continent's license on 12 April 2001, and assigned its frequency to another station, Radio Onix. This decision was justified, in part, by the non-payment of a monetary debt of 10,000 hryvnia (12,000 francs or 1,830 euros), an amount allegedly due because of an increase in broadcasting hours in 1997, and the rebroadcasting of foreign radio stations' programmes, which has been judged illegal. The acquisition of a licence and frequency involves paying fees and making new investments that would be particularly difficult for the sanctioned station, and in the interval, could threaten its existence.

Radio Continent director Sergiy Cholokh lodged a complaint against UNAC's decision. BBC's management believes that "the listeners are losing an important source of independent information," and that "the closure of Radio Continent is a blow against all independent media in a country where press freedom has already suffered a great deal." Murdered journalist Gongadze worked for Radio Continent before founding his own online magazine (see IFEX alerts of 26, 22 and 16 March, 28 and 15 February, 22 and 5 January 2001, 22, 20 and 15 December, 29 and 28 November, 26 and 20 September 2000). When the referendum about strengthening the presidential powers took place in April 2000, he was actively involved in condemning the referendum over the airwaves.