Photo credit: screeshot from video of TV channel Kapri
On August 1, in Pokrovsk (Donetsk region), several unknown persons and a political technologist of a candidate at parliamentary election attacked a journalists of local TV channel Kapri. The cameraman suffered brain concussion, his professional camera was broken, as well as the telephone of the journalist Alyona Sobolenko. The latter reported it to IMI in Donetsk region.
According to the journalist, initially Vitaliy Verbitsky, political technologist of the candidate at parliamentary election Ruslan Trebushkin, broke her working smartphone, ripping it from her hands.
Then Trebushkin forced the cameraman out the room, where the meeting of members of the district election commission (DEC) and the city administration was held. The journalists tried to find out why the members of DEC were not recounting votes, as the Central election commission had decided, and why they had a meeting with the candidate Trebushkin behind closed doors. But no media could get there.
Then as Sobolenko told, some unknown young men beat the cameraman, broke the camera and erase the video footage from the memory card. The cameraman was kept behind the door for half an hour. The journalist immediately called the police.
“The police did not arrive at once, I had to call them three times, but they weren’t in a hurry and to make it clear to you, there is 2 minutes to walk from the police station to the events. We were very worried, because we did not know what was going on behind the closed doors ... In the hospital, they documented injuries, and today, an ambulance was called for the cameraman, as he had dizziness, and it was found out he had brain concussion too, ”Alona Sobolenko said.
The police arrived only half an hour after the call, but they were unable to enter the premises, as a crowd of unknown young men of solid constitution barred them the entry. Subsequently, the police reinforcements arrived to the spot and they could free the cameraman.
The cameraman told that the guys threatened him with violence and tried to find out how many TV crews remained in the street.
The journalists filed complaint to the police. The criminal proceedings were initiated on the grounds of Part 1 of Art. 171 “Obstruction of lawful professional activity of the journalist”.
https://youtu.be/pCKQz6iqGRE
