Man suspected of beating Chornovol was granted asylum in Russia

Russia provided a temporary asylum to a man suspected of beating the Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Chornovol, Andriy Zinchenko. He received it from the Moscow department of the Federal Migration Service. He was released from the pre-trial detention facility on August 5 as the term for pre-trial detention, 6 months, expired. He still may get extradited to Ukraine.

 The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine demands his extradition since February of 2014, when Zinchenko was detained by Russian police on Kyiv’s request.

For the context, on December 25 several men badly beat the journalist-invstigator Tetiana Chornovol after stopping her car on the road. The police began an investigation. The court qualified the attackers’ actions as hooliganism and released them on probation. The Prosecutor General’s Office took over the case and qualified it as a murder attempt.

 Now, Chornovol holds a position of the Ukrainian special commissioner in the issues of anti-corruption policy.