An official threatens a journalist from Chernivtsi for her article about him keeping a Red Book lynx as a pet

A journalist from Chernivtsi Halyna Yeremitsa filed a complaint with the police about pressure and threats of physical harm from the local governmental official Serhiy Shekhter because of her article in the newspaper named “Lynx lives in…Velykyi Kuchurіv”. This is what she shared with HolosUA.

According to her, after the publication of her material in the Chernivtsi local newspaper Versiyi about the lynx that lives in the yard of a rich man near Chernivtsi, she started to receive threats.

«In the village of Velykyi Kuchurіv in Storozhynetskyi rayon, a man keeps a lynx. He keeps the predator caged, he said it was a present for him. He refused to talk about his occupation or work», the journalist told.

Also, Yeremitsa informed, according to his neighbors, the lynx’ owner is very rich, he has a servant and he is a high-ranked official in another oblast. And after the story appeared in the press, he started to threaten the journalist over the telephone.

"On October 11, the lynx owner Serhiy Shekhter telephoned me and started to express his anger concerning the material that I published, he threatened to cause me physical harm», Yeremitsa said.

The journalist filed a complaint to the police with a demand to start a criminal case for obstructing her professional activities. Meanwhile, the local prosecutor’s office resolved to confiscate the lynx and to release it into the wild.