Valentyna Samar

Coordinator of Non-recognition and sanctions policy group of the Crimean Platform Expert Network. 

Mrs. Samar is the winner of the Eastern Europe International Free Press Award (2015, now known as the Free Media Awards), “Honour of the Profession” competition and “TV critics” award (2014), as well as the first prize in the National Competition for Investigative Journalism in the Fight against Corruption, “Dignified Ukraine”, and the Special Prize for promoting Investigative Journalism (2009). 

In April 2014 V. Samar presented to the UN Security Council a report on violations of freedom of speech, persecution of journalists, and abductions of activists during Russia’s occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol. In autumn 2014 facing the persecution by the Russian security forces, the agency editorial office had to evacuate from the occupied Simferopol to Kyiv. 

The Crimean Centre of  Journalistic Investigations has been focusing on investigating corruption in Ukraine, war crimes in the Russian-occupied territories of southern Ukraine and Crimea, and schemes to circumvent the sanctions regimes. The Centre’s investigations are highly effective: hundreds of criminal proceedings have been launched based on their materials, and dozens of individuals involved in the investigations have been added to Ukrainian and Western sanctions lists. 

Valentyna Samar is a trainer in investigative journalism techniques and co-author of “Reporter’s Guide to Investigating War Crimes” (2023, GIJN).