French investigators arrive in Ukraine to probe AFP journalist death

French investigators have already arrived in Ukraine to conduct an investigation into the death of AFP journalist Arman Soldin during a Russian missile attack near Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region.

The Head of the office of the international organization Reporters Without Borders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia Jeanne Cavellier said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

She reminded that the French prosecutor's office had launched an investigation into the death of Arman Soldin in the war in Ukraine, and noted that the case was moving quite quickly.

"We are in touch with the French part of the investigation because they are cooperating with the Ukrainian Prosecutor General. And we know that yesterday four investigators arrived here from France and they started to listen to testimonies," said Cavellier.

The Head of the office added that Reporters Without Borders pays a lot of attention to this case because the murder of a journalist is not only a war crime against a civilian.

"We focus on this case about Arman. We consider that the crimes against journalists are not only crimes against civilians, of course, it's war crimes. But it's also it's more than that because journalists have a social function, is it has a crucial role to inform, to give reliable information to the public as Arman did, he was very professional," Cavellier said.

As reported, on May 10, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office of France launched an investigation into the death of AFP reporter Arman Soldin in the war in Ukraine. It is classified as a war crime.

Arman Soldin was born in Sarajevo on March 21, 1991, and was a French citizen. He started working for AFP as an intern in the Rome bureau in 2015 and then moved to the London bureau. Soldin was part of the first AFP team to be sent to Ukraine after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, arriving the next day. Since September, he has been living in Ukraine and travelling regularly to the frontline.

According to IMI, Arman Soldin became the 57th media professional to die as a result of Russian aggression and the 10th journalist to be killed in the line of duty.