In Vinnytska oblast, editor of newspaper «Zhyttevi obriyi» complains about harassment

In Khmilnyk (Vinnytska oblast), the editor of the local rayon newspaper «Zhyttievi obriyi» Oleksandr Okolodko complains about harassment by the member of Khmilnyk town council and civil activist Ruslan Tereshchuk. The editor addressed the National Association of Journalists of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the Security Service of Ukraine. He also published his statement about the harassment in the newspaper, Detector media reports with reference to the Association’s press service. As the statement goes, Ivan Matash blocked the editor’s car with his car and, recording this with his camera, demanded the editor to come out. Okolodko was in the car with his wife and children. The editor also reports that threats and intimidation has been going on for about two years, and thinks that this harassment by the town council member is "revenge for the truth". The police, as the editor claims, does not view this harassment as a crime. At that, the articles that induce such rage are not even written by Okolodko. The latest such materials were statements by the head of rayon state administration and by the chief physician of the oblast hospital. The newspaper itself used to be a communal enterprise and successfully transited out of state ownership.