· On 8 May, the independent newspaper “Provintsiya” in Kostyantynivka was attacked by armed, masked men, allegedly members of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”. The editors were told the paper was “closed” and taken to the “city commander’s office” situated in the occupied building of the City Council, where they were threatened and suggested to leave the town. The police was called, but did not interfere or arrested the attackers. The editors did not file a complaint because they do not trust the police will act and because they feel threatened and fear for their lives. · On 11, 13, 19 and 20 May, armed groups shelled the TV tower in Slovyansk, which led to interruptions in broadcasting. On 14 May, in Kramatorsk, the armed groups blocked the TV tower, which transmits the channels not only for Kramatorsk, but also Slovyansk, Horlivka and Makiivka. Censorship / access to information 232. According to NGOs, freedom of media in the Donetsk region is severely curtailed, with Ukrainian TV channels switched off by the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and replaced by the its own media programmes and Russian TV. Some of the examples include the following: · On 8 and 25 May, armed group stormed the office of the local TV Channel “Union” with demands to report about the activity of “Donetsk People’s Republic” and declared their intent to control the activity of journalists. The target audience of the channel is about 3 million people in nine towns of Donetsk region. · On 8 May, under threat of physical violence from the armed groups, the company “Vokar Holding” was forced to stop retransmission of Ukrainian TV Channels: “Inter”, “Ukraine”, “1+1”, ICTV, STB, “New Channel”, “5th Channel”, “112 Ukraine”, and “TVI” in Severodonetsk, Luhansk region. Instead the Russian channels were broadcasted. The same incidents occurred throughout May in Luhansk and its region (Krasnyi Luch, Alchevsk). · On 2 June, armed members of the so-called “Donbas People’s Militia” arrived at the office of the newspapers “Donbas” and “Vecherniy Donetsk” and blocked all entrances and exits. They abducted the editor-in-chief of the “Donbas” and his deputy and the editor-in-chief of “Vecherniy Donetsk”. The armed men reportedly used psychological pressure and death threats to change the editorial policy of the newspapers and ensure more positive coverage of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”. The three editors were eventually released on 3 June after which all the “Donbas” employees were sent on leave and the newspaper stopped its publication. Also, the HRMMU has noted specific hate speech on the “official” media outlet of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” “Anna Info News”. On 20 May Oleksandr Mozhayev, known as "Babai" (a fighter participating in the armed groups) referred to the ongoing operations as a “Holy War” and spoke of exterminating America. 110 | P a g e