Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Monday that it had submitted a new claim at the International Criminal Court against Russia for the arbitrary arrest and deportation of 19 Ukrainian journalists.
"Russian occupation forces are hunting down independent Ukrainian journalists, arresting and deporting them -- sometimes to its own territory," said the press freedom group's director of advocacy and assistance, Antoine Bernard.
According to RSF, 18 Ukrainian journalists are being held, including 14 on Russian territory, while one journalist has been reported missing.
"Being imprisoned by Russia means your life is at risk," Bernard added, calling the arrest and deportation of journalists "war crimes".
The NGO denounced "inhumane" detention conditions in Russia and in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, saying prisoners were "deprived of medical care, isolated and, in some cases, subject to forced labour".
Twenty coffins were placed in central Paris earlier this month to mark the fate of Ukrainian journalists killed or imprisoned in Russia.
A closed coffin was placed at the front with a wreath and candles in tribute to the investigative journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian detention under unclear circumstances last year.
RSF said 13 journalists have lost their lives carrying out their job since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The NGO has made eight previous complaints against Russia to the ICC and the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office in the last three years.
Filing a complaint at The Hague-based ICC does not necessarily result in the prosecutor opening an investigation.
"The previous RSF complaints triggered or contributed to 14 investigations by the prosecutor general's office into crimes against journalists," RSF's Bernard said.
He urged the Ukrainian authorities to "continue these vital efforts to investigate and prosecute those responsible".
