The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, condemned the arrest of two Russian TV network journalists covering a demonstration in the United States.
The Moscow-based Russia Today crew members, U.S. nationals Kaelyn Forde and Jon Conway, were arrested on Saturday after covering a protest near Fort Benning army base in Columbus, Georgia "despite complying with the police demand not to come close to the gates of the base," the network said.
"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," Mijatovic said.
"While it is clear that police play a crucial role in maintaining order during public demonstrations, the indiscriminate rounding up of media and bringing charges against them goes well beyond what is necessary to keep the peace," she continued, requesting a scrupulous and independent investigation of the incident
The crew, which was filming an annual protest by human rights activists against a U.S. Defense Department training program for Latin American police, was detained for 32 hours and released after posting $1,300 bail.
Following the arrest, a lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party, Mikhail Nenashev, urged government agencies on Tuesday to report on how Russian journalists abroad are protected.
MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti)
