Second assailant on Skhemy TV crew placed under night house arrest
The Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv has ordered night house arrest for Volodymyr Pikalov, director of the information policy department of Ukreximbank. Nadiya Maksymets, a spokeswoman for the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, said this, as Ukrinform reported.
“Today, the prosecutor's office filed a petition (to the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv - ed.) to impose precautionary measures on all three employees of the bank involved in the proceedings on obstructing the work of journalists from the “Skhemy” program. As for now, a precautionary measure has already been chosen for one official, the person responsible for information policy (Pikalov - ed.). The court chose night house arrest for him from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am, ” she said.
According to Channel 5 , the prosecutor's office asked Pikalov for 24-hour house arrest without bail. After the deliberation, the judge Oleksandra Koldina decided on a precautionary measure in the form of night house arrest.
Today, IMI reported, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank JSC dismissed Yevhen Metzher from the position of the Bank's Chairman of the Board.
Previously, on October 11, the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv chose a measure of restraint for the suspended chairman of the board of Ukreximbank Yevhen Metsher.
Prosecutor of the Holosiivskyi Prosecutor's Office in Kyiv Dmytro Lyushenko requested a 24-hour house arrest for Metzher. He believes that the suspect may go into hiding. In addition, Metzher works at the same company with other persons targeted by the investigation, and so he could destroy some documents or influence the course of the investigation.
As IMI reported, on October 8, law enforcement officers served with a suspicion notice the security officer of Ukreximbank for obstructing the work of journalists of the "Skhemy" program and intentional acts of violence.
On October 8, Yevhen Metzger was served with a new suspicion for unlawful deprivation of liberty or detention of people, obstructing the work of journalists of "Skhemy" program. This was reported on the website of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office.
As IMI reported, on October 7, the Holosiivskyi Police Department served notice of suspicion to the chairman of the board of Ukreximbank Yevhen Metzher and to another employee of Ukreximbank for obstructing the legitimate professional activities of journalists - parts 1, 3 of Art. 171 (“Obstruction of lawful professional activity of journalists”) of the Criminal Code.
On October 6, Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Nadiya Maksymets said that Ukreximbank officials involved in the case of obstructing the professional activities of “ Skhemy” journalists were avoiding receiving notices of suspicion from law enforcement.
As IMI reported, on October 4 in Kyiv, employees of the state-owned Ukreximbank used brute force against the film crew of "Skhemy" while recording an interview with the chairman of the financial institution Yevhen Metzher right in his office.
The Kyiv Police has initiated criminal proceedings for obstructing the professional activities of journalists of the “Schemes” program (Part 1 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Ukreximbank accused “Skhemy” journalists of misappropriating information with limited access (banking secrecy) and violating the Code of Ethics for Ukrainian Journalists.
On October 4, journalists for “Skhemy”were summoned for questioning as victims to establish all the circumstances of the incident at Ukreximbank during a recording of an interview with Chairman of the Board Yevhen Metzher.
On October 4, the editorial board of "Skhemy" managed to restore the video deleted by Ukreximbank employees during the attack on the film crew in the office of the head of the state bank Yevhen Metzher.
On October 5, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank announced that it had begun investigating the circumstances of the conflict with “Schemy” journalists.
On October 6, Ukreximbank's Chairman of the Board Yevhen Metzher said he would step down from office during the police investigation and an internal bank investigation into the conflict with “Skhemy” journalists.
On October 6, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said that the Office of the Prosecutor General would not cover for the actions of employees of the state-owned Ukreximbank who attacked the TV crew of the "Skhemy" program. The person in charge will be notified of the suspicion.
On October 6, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank decided to suspend the Chairman of the Board of Ukreximbank Yevhen Metzher from the exercise of his powers for the duration of the internal investigation.
On October 6, police officers requalified the case on the grounds of a crime under Part 3 of Art. 171 of the Criminal code of Ukraine (Obstruction of lawful professional activity of journalists by an officer). The initial registration at the request of journalists was under Part 1 of Art. 171 (obstruction by denial of access, seizure of equipement, illegitimate ban to cover some issues and so on).
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