The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed the arrest last week of a man accused of attacking two Ukrainian reporters at a political protest in Kiev and urged authorities to bring the other assailants to justice.
RFE/RL reported that Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko told parliament on Tuesday that the suspect, Vadym Titushko, had been charged with hooliganism and that authorities were looking for other suspects.
IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills said: “IPI and its affiliate, the South East Media Organisation (SEEMO), are disturbed by the attack on journalists Olha Snitsarchuk and Vladyslav Sodel, as well as by the allegations that Kiev police refused to intervene on the journalists’ behalf. We urge Ukrainian authorities to ensure that everyone responsible for this attack is brought to justice. We also call on them to investigate the police officers’ conduct – in particular the allegation that the attack may have been allowed to proceed unhindered.”
Titushko is allegedly one of several assailants who beat the two reporters as they covered an opposition demonstration outside the Interior Ministry’s headquarters in Kiev on May 18. Snitsarchuk, a correspondent for the Kyiv-based Channel 5 television station, and her husband Sodel, a photographer for the Russian Kommersant newspaper, were reportedly treated for bruises at a local hospital.
According to reports, the incident, which was photographed by other journalists, occurred within view of several police officers who failed to intervene despite the journalists’ pleas for help. The Interior Ministry promised to launch an investigation into the police officers’ conduct following significant public backlash.
Last Wednesday, a dozen Ukrainian reporters protested authorities’ conduct by stepping in front of television cameras and turning their backs to Prime Minister Mykola Azarov during a cabinet meeting. The Moscow Times reported that the journalists held signs reading: “Today it’s a female journalist, tomorrow – your wife, sister, daughter.”
Azarov said the journalists should be expelled from the journalists’ pool and he called their act a “circus.” He instructed his aides to record the journalists’ names and strip their accreditations to cover government meetings.
The prime minister rescinded the ban after nearly 100 journalists demonstrated in front of the offices of the Cabinet of Ministers on May 23. Azarov met with the demonstrators and reportedly asked them to “act professionally”, warning that accreditations could be rescinded if a similar situation happened again.
