Chornomorsk journalist reports the authorities' inaction; the police denies it

The head of the news agency "Chornomorska Hromada" (Chornomorsk, Odesa oblast), Hanna Khlystun, says that the authorities were not investigating the attack on the news agency journalists.

She spoke about this at a briefing on November 2, 2023, reports "Informer".

According to Hanna Khlystun, the attack took place back in March 2022, when reporters for the news agency were investigating a UAF car supply case and discovered instnces of a car being ordered but never delivered to the front line. They asked the City Council where the car had gone.

"The City Council replied that they were aware of the situation and that the car was being repaired at the water supply company. After that, Oleh Polishchuk, assistant to Mayor Vasyl Huliayev, arranged a meeting for us, where people with guns were waiting for us, shouting that we should not interfere in their business. After that, they beat us, I received a closed brain injury, and my cameraman was beaten by eight people in balaclavas," said Hanna Khlystun.

After the attack, the journalist and cameraman, Valentyn Tkachuk, filed a statement with the police, but, according to Khlystun, the case has been "frozen".

The IMI regional representative was informed by the inquiry department of the Odesa National Police that they do have an appeal from Hanna Khlystun about the March 2022 events.

According to the authorities' reply, the case was investigated under Part 1 of Article 125 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional minor bodily harm). But on October 23, 2023, the Illichivsky City Court ruled that information about the attack on the journalist was to be added into the unified register, and on October 30, the police opened a case under Article 171 (obstructing the legal professional work of journalists).

The police note that a pre-trial investigation is currently underway and the details to be proven are being identified.