KIEV, July 19 – About 100 journalists picketed the Prosecutor General’s Office on Thursday demanding the authorities stop pressure against independent media outlets amid rising concerns about freedom of speech.

The action was held in response to recent investigations against television station TVi and online newspaper Liviy Bereh, both of which had been critical of the government.

The investigations come three months before scheduled general elections and are seen by the journalists as a way to intimidate independent media outlets.

“The launched criminal investigations against journalists and media outlets, especially ahead of the elections, is a frank and not masked pressure on the freedom of speech,” Mustafa Nayem, a TVi journalist, who joined the protest.

Several senior government officials issued comments over the past few days calling against the investigations of the media outlets, but the journalists accused President Viktor Yanukovych of being behind the pressure.

“There is only one person who is to be blamed for what’s going on,” Nayem said. “His name is Viktor Yanukovych.”

“The silence and inaction by the president is an eloquent response to a question about his attitude towards the freedom of speech,” Nayem said. “He is indifferent towards it in the best case. He does not need it, in the worst case.”

Meanwhile, hours after the journalists launched the protest, Yanukovych’s press service issued a statement in which the president had also joined the calls in support of the freedom of speech.

“It is critically important for a democratic country to protect the freedom of speech and to prevent any pressure against the media,” Yanukovych was quoted in the statement. “The pluralism of opinion in the media is a guarantee of democratic vote at the upcoming elections. The government must do anything to protect the media and voters’ rights.”

Yanukovych ordered the Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and State Tax Administration chief Oleksandr Klimenko to check again the reasons for the investigations.

Meanwhile, at least one senior prosecutor, Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin, spent most of the day on Thursday at the presidential administration, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s Office said Thursday.

The tax authorities recently raided the office of TVi television, opening an investigation against Mykola Knyazhitsky, the chief executive, alleging he had used the company to dodge tax payments.

At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s Office launched criminal investigation against Liviy Bereh online newspaper, forcing its editor, Sonia Koshkina, to flee Ukraine.

Three members of the committee on the freedom of speech, including Olena Kondratiuk, Oleksandr Abdullin, Yuriy Stets and Viktor Ukolov, issued a statement on Wednesday calling the investigations a “reprisal against journalists.”

Serhiy Liovochkin, the chief of staff at Yanukovych’s administration, on Wednesday denied the allegations that the authorities are using the investigation to punish independent media.

The tax police raided the office of TVi television station on July 12, accusing the outlet, which is often critical of the government, of tax evasion.

TVi interrupted its usual programming to show tax inspectors browsing through heaps of financial documents in its Kiev office.

The State Tax Service said it had launched a criminal case against TVi's chief executive, Mykola Knyazhitsky, after finding out that the station had evaded more than 3 million hryvnias ($375,000) in VAT payments.

TVi has challenged the back tax claim in court.

Batkivshchyna, the main opposition party, accused the government of censorship.

"Batkivshchyna view this cynical move by the authorities as yet another attempt to limit freedom of speech in the country and introduce political censorship at the television station under the cover of a criminal case," it said in a statement.

Opinion polls show that Batkivshchyna, led by jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is close behind the Regions Party in the run-up to the October elections. (tl/ez)