Police identifies five attackers in Nikolov's case (photo)

The police have identified five people who tried to break into the apartment of investigative journalist Yury Nikolov, reports the Kyiv city police.

According to the investigation, the perpetrators come from Kyiv, Zhytomyr and Cherkasy oblasts. They arrived in Kyiv, came to the victim's house, plastered the door with paper notes and demanded that the journalist come out to them. The perpetrators were recording their actions on their own mobile phones.

People suspected of attacking Nikolov. Photos by the National Police

On January 20, their apartments were searched and the police carried out a series of investigative actions there, seizing computer equipment and mobile phones used by the suspects to film their "visit" to the journalist.

As the IMI reported, on January 15, investigative journalist Yuriy Nikolov reported an attempt at intimidation: unknown men tried to break into his apartment on January 14, scaring his mother and neighbors, and left paper notes saying "draft dodger" and "traitor" on his door. After the incident, the Telegram channel "Kartochny Ofis" posted about it, claiming that it was military servicemen trying to deliver a draft notice to the journalist. A provocative post about Yuri Nikolov was shared by the Telegram channels "Vertykal" and "Joker" at about the same time. On January 15, the Telegram channel 'Joker' posted the video of Nikolov's comment on President Volodymyr Zelensky and implied that the attack on the journalist's apartment was retaliation for his remark about the head of state.

On January 19, the police started a case over pressuring the investigative journalist Yury Nikolov to prevent him from performing his professional duties and persecuting the latter due to his reporting (Part 2 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).