Attack on Ukrainska Pravda journalist: defendants receive suspended sentence with right of appeal

The Obukhiv District Court has handed down its verdict regarding two men accused of attacking Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach in the course of his work outside the Tandyr restaurant in Kozyn. They were given a three-year suspended sentence with probation, and may appeal the verdict.

Source: press service of the Obukhiv District Court 

Details: The court reportedly found that on 17 November 2023, Ukrainska Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach entered the area outside the Tandyr restaurant to film as part of an investigative journalism assignment.

Customers began to leave the restaurant at around 23:29, and Tkach got out of his car. In an open area – the restaurant's car park, i.e. a public space – he began filming openly on a digital video camera according to his editorial assignment, guided by the provisions of Articles 5, 7, 24 and 25 of the Law of Ukraine On Information.

At this point, the two accused (named by Ukrainska Pravda as Khomiak and Oliinyk) blocked his way, closed his video camera, generally obstructed Tkach’s filming of the people leaving the restaurant, and prevented him from moving closer to the exit, "thus impeding the journalist from carrying out his professional duties".

Quote: "The court found both the accused guilty of committing a crime under Articles 28.1 and 171.2 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, namely the wilful preclusion of journalists’ lawful professional activities committed by a group of people without prior conspiracy.

The court took account of the defendants’ characters and lack of prior convictions, the absence of any mitigating or aggravating circumstances, and the opinions of the parties in the criminal proceedings, before sentencing them to three years of restriction of freedom with a two-year probation period.

The verdict has not come into force and can be appealed in court."

Background:

• Late in the evening of 17 November 2023, Ukrainska Pravdaʼs Mykhailo Tkach was attacked while filming outside the Tandyr restaurant in Kozyn, Kyiv Oblast, where several high-ranking officials from the Prosecutor’s Office had been spotted.
• Following Ukrainska Pravda’s reporting of the attack on Tkach, the Kyiv Oblast Police opened a criminal investigation into the obstruction of the journalist’s lawful professional activities.

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