Kyiv police opens case over attack on journalists in Pechersk

The Kyiv police opened a case over an assault on a journalist in Pechersk, as reported by the police press office on March 8.

They noted that the journalists had received reports about an illegal call center operating in one of the offices in the district.

"The journalists arrived at the address, and a conflict arose as they were talking to the people in the office, which resulted in one of the mass media representatives being injured," the police said.

The law enforcers entered the case information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations under Art. 345-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – threats or violence against a journalist.

On the same day, March 8, the media outlet "Stopcor" reported that their employee Ihor Dotsenko was beaten.

The editors say that the journalists visited the business center "Almaz", where, as they heard, a fraudulent call center operated. According to the journalists, the unknown persons "guarding" the office attacked them and initiated the fight.

"The attackers tried to knock the equipment out of the journalists' hands and struck one of the reporters in the face," writes Stopcor.

The media outlet noted that the people at "Almaz" first tried their best not to let the journalists inside, but they still managed to get into the building.

According to "Stopcor" representative Ihor Dotsenko, the journalists called the police to the scene, but by the time the law enforcers arrived, the "call center" employees managed to remove equipment and documents from the office.

"While the police team were filling out the documents, four unknown persons attacked the Stopcor reporters. Later, a fifth person joined them. The attackers tried to snatch the phone from the hands of a Stopcor journalist, which he was using to record everything that was happening in the business center, and hit another journalist in the face, breaking his nose," the editors noted.