(Pictured Yuriy and Andriy Botnar). Photo credit: Yuriy Botnar's Facebook
The deputy mayor of Cherkasy Yuri Botnar waxed indignant over the lead the investigation advanced saying his father allegedly had been involved in the murder of journalist Vadym Komarov, as it was said
in the ruling of the Prydniprovsky district court of Cherkasy on July 30. By that ruling, the court allowed the investigators to inspect the personal belongings and documents of Andriy Botnar.
Yuri Botnar wrote about this on his Facebook page, qualifying such police actions as politically motivated.
He he also noted that he had been summoned twice for questioning as a witness and that his father, Andrew, has not even been acquainted with Komarov. "Neither me, nor my father have been involved in the attack," Botnar emphasized.
He was also indignant that the court ruling, which did not mention the names, was actively picked up by the Cherkasy media and added names.
The first who named suspects was the online edition of 18000.
In his post, Botnar stressed that he and his father would bring to account those who publicly accused them of murder.
In his comment for IMI, Botnar said that his father had already contacted his lawyer.
“I am not the subject of the lawsuit. But he advised my father to file a libel claim,” Yuri Botnar said. - After all, the material in which his name was published in the context of the murder of Vadym Komarov was intended, in my opinion, to create a biased attitude towards Andriy Botnar, as an eventual assailant of Komarov. The bias of the authors is that they did not ask to comment on Andriy Botnar or me, and that they did not mention any other name in this case. Thus, in my opinion, there is a deliberate manipulation of information in order to create in the minds of readers the negative image of my father and me as persons involved in the murder of Vadym Komarov. ”
According to a correspondent of IMI in Cherkasy region, Botnar's reaction to the publication caused a keen discussion in the Cherkasy media community.
18000 co-founder Serhiy Makarenko said that, in his opinion, the authorities should be open and assist the investigation of such high profile case.
“Instead, we see that certain individuals are trying to put pressure on the investigation and the media,” Makarenko said. - I want to emphasize on several points. The first is that there were no public accusations that the deputy mayor was indignant about, but instead there were the phrases “are verifying involvement”, “verifying conflict”, “he could be involved and has some information”. All of these wordings were taken from open sources, which is the register of court decisions. The second point is our previous materials covering the course of the pre-trial investigation, did not cite the suspect's name, or so-called “underboss”, because they are not public figures, and this was difficult to realize who it was. On the contrary, I will quote the article: “the family, friends and professional relationships of PERSON_2 have been established and it is established that the perpetrator of the said crime may be involved and disposes information relevant for the pre-trial investigation of PERSON_2 - PERSON_4, INFORMATION as and his son is a member of Svoboda, end of quote (Yuri Botnar - chairman of Cherkasy regional organization of Svoboda - editorial board). The third point was that the investigation did not divulge names, and it is possible to get it, if you have some basic skills in using the register of court decisions. (…) As a journalist, I regret that the discussion over our material was brought by certain individuals beyond the ethics. I consider such discourse and insults against the media as a superfluous demonstration of the intellectual and moral level of these individuals, ” Sergei Makarenko said.
IMI reported on 7 August, the investigation was going to check the personal belongings and documents of the father of the deputy mayor of Cherkasy, Andriy Botnar, who, according to the police, might have been involved in the murder of the journalist Vadym Komarov. Such was decision of Pridniprovsky district court of Cherkasy of July 30.
On August 2, the investigators said that a convicted person who is serving sentence in the penitentiary # 62 in Cherkassy region, would have been instigator of the murder of the journalist Vadym Komarov .
On July 16, the Cherkasy police has identified a person who eventually could have been involved in the murder of journalist Vadim Komarov.
IMI
informed on June 20th, Vadym Komarov, Cherkassy investigative journalist, victim of brutal assault who stayed in coma, died.
As IMI
informed, on May 4th in Cherkassy, some unknown person beat Vadym Komarov, local journalist and video blogger, who investigated facts of corruption in municipal council, illegal real estate development and condition of penitentiary establishment. Komarov was sent to the hospital, he was in a critical condition, as he got an open cranio-cerebral trauma.
