• Press Release

Amnesty International Experts Available for Interviews on Violence in Ukraine

February 19, 2014

Contact: Carol Gregory, [email protected], 202-675-8759, @AIUSAmedia

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Amnesty International experts in Kyiv and London are monitoring the continuing violence between anti-government protesters and security forces in central Kyiv that has taken the lives of at least 25 people.

“The dramatic escalation in violence in the last 24 hours is deeply alarming,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia program director. “This is a time for clear-headed thinking, where all sides should be striving to calm tensions and curb violence. Worryingly confrontation appears to be prevailing.”

“The abusive use of force by police in recent months has fanned the flames of protest currently burning in Independence Square – the Ukrainian authorities must be careful not to fuel them further. The police response to protester violence must be targeted and proportionate and the right to peaceful assembly respected.”

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million members in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.