Court fined $18 man who threw stones at journalists with ATN

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On September 30, 2020, the Zhovtnevy District Court of Kharkiv imposed a fine of 510 hryvnias (around $18) to a man who in July made an assault upon the journalists of the ATN TV channel and threw stones at them, as they were filming of the story. This is reported in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions.

The court found the man guilty of committing a criminal offense under Part 1 of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Interference with legitimate professional activity of journalists).

The accused pled guilty, he explained that he had experienced severe stress due to the tragic events happened in his family: his sister strangled her son, after which she committed suicide.

In addition, the accused expressed regret over what was done to journalists and apologized to the victims.

In making its decision, the court took into account the sincere remorse of the accused and took into account the position of journalists who did not insist on severe punishment.

The verdict can be appealed to the Kharkiv Court of Appeal through the Zhovtnevy District Court of Kharkiv within 30 days from the date of its announcement.

As IMI reported, on July 14, while filming a story about the suicide of a Kharkiv woman who strangled her 10-year-old son, a man assalted the camera crew of the ATN TV channel . The man left the house, swore obscenely and insulted the film crew, took a camera tripod from the cameraman, rushed to a car parked nearby and tore off the door handles. Then with a group of some unknown people, he started throwing stones at the film crew.

Police have launched a criminal investigation into the attack on the camera crew of the Kharkiv TV company "ATN" under Art. 171 ("interference with lawful professional activity of journalists") of the Criminal code of Ukraine.