There is a limit to a compromise, beyond which conscious citizens cannot afford going. That limit is set by the freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

Over the recent two years we have witnessed those freedoms being curbed in Ukraine.  Television has become monopolized with disproportionally high presence of the authorities' views and minimization of critical voices of the opposition and the independent society.

However, the situation around the TVi channel during the parliamentary election campaign is quite unprecedented. The country's last TV channel still offering a critical view on the developments in the country, and broadcasting news programs that are regarded by independent experts as the most balanced, is now under direct threat.

The case of TVi is by no means only about its existence as a business entity, as conceived by its owner, editors and journalists. The deliberate destruction of the TVi channel is a blow to much greater principles and democratic European values.

In August alone more than 60 cable television providers removed TVi from their packages. Each day thousands of people in various Ukrainian cities can no longer watch TVi. From September 5, 2012, Ukraine's largest cable operator, Volіa Cable, intends to move TVi from a popular basic package to an expensive extended package accessible only to the better-off one-third of users of this cable network.

The government, which should ensure the observance of Ukraine's laws and of its Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and the public's access to information, has still not reacted to such a mass exclusion of the channel from cable networks. Moreover, TVi's Editor-in-Chief asserts that the demand enabling the cable operators to illegally cut off the TVi signal came from the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council.

The truly systematic persistence of the unlawful harassment and disconnection of the TVi from cable networks demonstrates that it is being directed from one centre of influence and run by one actor, whom the cable operators, even such normally more autonomous ones as Volia Cable cannot afford to ignore. The actions are caused by the targeted policy of restricting the freedom of speech on the Ukrainian television, destroying pluralism of information, and purging the country's television of criticism of the government once and for all. This proves the failure by the government, which should protect the interests of freedom of speech for Ukraine's citizens. Without freedom of speech and the media, any talk of preserving any other freedoms for each Ukrainian and the country as a whole are worth nothing.

Ensuring the freedom of speech is a direct duty of the President, as the Guarantor of the Constitution. Thus far we have not heard any clear explanation from the authorities about the unprecedented situation with TVi.

We appeal to the President, the executive branch and relevant state bodies with a demand to stop pressure on the TVi channel, the only channel nowadays taking a critical stand. There are plenty of far more powerful television channels in the country to counter TVi's criticism with the spoken word, not with its forced authoritarian destruction. You must enable its uninterrupted broadcasting by cable network operators and ensure that the latter obey the law and respect their concluded contracts.

This is also an Appeal to the international community, representative bodies of foreign countries, and international NGOs during the World Newspaper Congress in Kyiv, attended by prominent journalists from hundreds of countries. We are calling for  your help in dissemination, through all ways possible, of the information about the critical situation with the freedom of speech in Ukraine, and the pressure on not-pro-government mass-media. We urge you to insistently raise this issue in your communication with the Ukrainian authorities.

The loss of freedom of speech means the loss of dignity of both the society and the state. We cannot allow this to happen.

Starting from Septermber 2, this petition was signed by more than 1,300 Ukrainian citizens, including:

Viktoria Siumar, Institute of Mass Information Executive Director

Natalya Ligachova, Telekritika NGO, Head of the Board

Yevhen Bystrytsky, Doctor of Philosophy

Taras Petriv, President of Suspilnist Foundation

Yevhen Zakharov, Head of Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group

Oleksandr Sushko, Research Director, Institute For Euro-Atlantic Co-operation

Myroslav Marynovych, the President of Ukrainian PEN-center

Oleh Rybachuk, head of "Center UA" NGO

Kostyantyn Kvurt, Internews-Ukraine, Head of the Board

Iryna Bekeshkina, Director of Democtratic Inititiatives Foundation

Taras Voznyak, editor-in-chief and founder of Independent Cultural Journal "Ї"

Ihor Koliushko, Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, Head of the Board

Oleksandra Koval, president of Publishers Forum NGO

Volodymyr Vyatrovych, historian

Volodymyr Paniotto, General Director of Kyiv International Institute of Sociology

Oleksandr Chekmyshev, head of Equal Opportunities Committee

Vira Nanivska, Director of International Center for Policy Studies

Taras Shevchenko, Director of Media Law Institute

Volodymyr Nikitin, ICPS expert

Serhiy Kvit, the Rector of Kyiv Mohyla Academy

Yaroslav Hrytsak, historian, professor of Lviv University

Vitaliy Nakhmanovych, Secretary of Public Committee "Babyn Yar"

Anatoly Tkachuk, Institute of Civil Society NGO

Taras Plakhtiy, Male Kolo community

Petro Kamin, Male Kolo communityOleh Demchuk, Gidnist (Dignity) civil movement

Vyacheslav Briukhovetskyy, Honorable President of Kyiv Mohyla Academy

Larysa Briukhovetska, film critic

Oleksandr Zayets, Istitute of Religious Freedom, Head of the Board

З українським варіантом заяви «Припинити нищення свободи слова в Україні!» можна ознайомитися тут.