Rivne court fines a man 850 hryvnias for attacking a journalist

ITV journalist Daria Solodovnyk. Photo by ITV Media Group

The Rivne City Court convicted a man of obstructing the work of ITV Media Group journalist Daria Solodovnyk and fined him 850 hryvnias.

The judgement was passed on April 19, 2024, reports the Institute of Mass Information representative in the oblast.

The incident involving Daria Solodovnyk occurred on April 10, 2023, when the ITV Media Group filming crew took the elevator together with the defendant. As stated in the verdict, the journalists were on an editorial assignment. They were working on a report about a building's residents convening to elect a new head of the cooperative.

The ruling states that, seeing the journalists, the man "deliberately, fully conscious and aware that the journalist PERSON_4 (Daria Solodovnyk. – Ed.) is a mass media representative," started swinging at the journalist, grabbing the microphone from her hands and trying to take away the flash drives with the recordings in order to prevent the publication of the news story.

In the verdict, the court noted that the defendant committed a criminal misdemeanor under Part 1 of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – intentional obstruction of a journalist's legal professional activity.

Since the defendant "sincerely repented" for his deeds at the pre-trial investigation stage and contributed to the investigation, the judge chose a milder punishment for him – a fine. He also has to compensate the state 7 000 hryvnias for hiring an expert during the investigation.

According to the ruling, Daria Solodovnyk confirmed the details discovered by the pre-trial investigation. The IMI could not get the journalist's comment about the obstruction she faced.

The judgement could be appealed in a court of appeal within 30 days.

Persons (non-officials) usually face harsher penalties for obstructing reporting (Article 171 of the Criminal Code): a fine of up to 200 tax-free minimums, probation supervision for up to four years, or up to four years in custody.

ITV Media Group (broadcasting company "Rytm") is owned by Roman Kurys, a personal friend and business partner of the acting mayor Victor Shakirzyan. The TV channel regularly publishes jeansa about Viktor Shakirzyan and his party's representatives.

In January, the IMI reported in detail on the progress in the investigations of various abuses against journalists in Rivne oblast.