In Zaporizhzhya, hired thugs prevented journalists from taking footage in court

On October 13 in Zaporizhzhya, journalists of the TV channel “TV-Gold” and the website “Holos Zaporizhzhya” were impeded, when they tried to conduct video recording in the room of Zhovtnevy district court by young men of athletic build, “Holos Zaporizhzhya” informs.

The incident took place during one of the sessions, where the court selected restraining measures for the two accused in the criminal case, Olena Bondarenko and Andriy Hrechkovskyi, who are suspected of a number of crimes as members of the so-called "Anisim" gang. Olena Bondarenko is accused of extortion, and Andriy Hrechkovskyi is accused of assault and murder of the director of the night club "Crowbar", and armed assault against a visitor of the same club.

As the media outlet describes it, when they were trying to take footage, they were approached and pushed away by two young men of athletic build, wearing sport costumes, sneakers, jackets and black caps. The men were blocking everything that was happening in the courthouse corridor, and were preventing journalists from doing their job. To the question about what was going on, the young men started describing problems that the journalist might have unless they stop taking footage. The reason the journalists had to stay in the corridor was that the court did not satisfy their request and declared the session closed for press.