Court released assailants of UP TV crew on their own recognizance
The Babushkin District Court of Dnipro released three suspects on personal bail for obstructing Ukrainian Pravda journalists in Dnipro on February 13.
The court chose such precautionary measures for the suspects Denis Dyug, Stanislav Sergeyev and Oleh Plakhotnik on February 18, Hromadske reported.
Another man who threatened journalists with a knife is to be identified.
The prosecutor asked for a personal recognizance for Dugas, as the penalty of the article on obstruction of journalistic activity does not provide for more severe punishment. The prosecutor asked to send Serheyev and Plakhotnik under 24-hour house arrest, emphasizing that they were also accused of robbery, seizure of a phone from a UP driver. The prosecution emphasized the risks of the suspects fleeing, pressuring witnesses and other possible participants, and destroying or distorting material evidence.
The prosecutor's office will appeal the decision against Serheyev and Plakhotnik.
The defense attorney of the suspects emphasized the lies and manipulations of the prosecutor's office, claiming that the journalists allegedly did not have permission to film on the territory of the regime facility. She also stressed that her clients came to the police themselves, but "law enforcement agencies are being taken hostage of public pressure and the media."
The suspect Serheyev noted that he works as a consultant for businessman Aleksander Nehamkin. According to him, his responsibilities include transportation of documents at the request of the head and other emergency assistance, consultations.
He said he had nohing to do with Dnipro businessman Oleksander Petrovsky, who was also seen on video.
Serheyev explained his aggressive actions saying that he "wanted to help the police to identify suspicious people who were filming and he was fulfilling his civic duty."
"I did not intend to take possession of the property, just, given the current dangerous situation in our country, I approached a man who was secretly filming, I wanted to prevent this. They did not have any badges proving that they were journalists, ”Sergeyev said.
As IMI reported, on February 13 in In Dnipro, on February 13, some unknown people aggressed the TV crew of Mykhailo Tkach, the head of the Ukrainian Pravda journalistic investigation department. The incident took place near the VIP terminal of the city airport.
According to UP, at about 3 pm, unknown individuals approached Yaroslav Bondarenko, a videographer of the UP, who was performing an editorial task, and demanded to delete the video. When Yaroslav refused, one of the men started threatening him with a knife and forced the UP operator to say the password from his phone and deleted all the videos that had been taken. Another man began to wring the hands of the UP driver.
The men didn’t name themselves. According to the UP, these were security guards. Police at the scene remained passive, the newspaper said.
The video shows the men telling reporters that "this is a strategic object, you can't take video here."
Mykhailo Tkach, a journalist with Ukrayinska Pravda, said that during the attack on his film crew at the Dnipro airport, the operator was personally threatened by businessman Oleksandr Petrovsky.
Law enforcement officers issued the suspicion notes for three people in the case of the attack on journalists of the online publication Ukraiynska Pravda. This was reported on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office. The suspects are charged with obstruction of lawful professional activity of journalists committed by a group of persons, illegal seizure of materials and technical means collected by journalists, as well as open theft of another's property (Part 1 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 171, Part 2 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ).
Ukrayinska Pravda got a video from a policeman's badge camera showing businessman Oleksandr Petrovsky threatening journalists.
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