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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.
• Topics / Freedom of expression

Kalashnikov, after assaulting journalists, should be simply “condemned”

15.12.2006    source: www.unian.net
The Committee indicates that the STB journalists are ready to conclude an amicable agreement over the issue, however Kalashnikov is not agreeing to this and has still not personally apologised to them. They also note that after 5 months there has been little movement forward in the criminal investigation

The Verkhovna Rada has been advised to declare the behaviour of the member of the Party of the Regions faction Oleh Kalashnikov, who took part in the incident with the journalists from Channel STB, unacceptable and worthy of condemnation.

This resolution was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada special investigative committee looking into the obstruction of the professional activities of STB journalists by State Deputy Kalashnikov on 12 July 2006 near parliament.

The members of the Committee also suggest that the Verkhovna Rada call on the Kyiv prosecutor’s office to accelerate the objective criminal investigation into the events launched over the obstruction of the journalists’ work.

It also asks the Verkhovna Rada to pass a resolution terminating the Committee’s work.

The Committee’s report states that they held 6 meetings, and at 4 of them the circumstances of the incident involving Kalashnikov and the STB journalists were discussed.

It indicates that the STB journalists are ready to conclude an amicable agreement over the issue, however Kalashnikov is not agreeing to this and has still not personally apologised to them.

The report also states that the Committee did not endeavour to establish who was guilty of assaulting the journalists and damaging their material belongings or of committing any other crime since this was a matter for the criminal investigation unit and the court.

The Committee also pointed out that there had been no significant movement forward over the last 5 months of the criminal investigation.

As already reported here, on 12 July 2006 a group of people from the Party of the Regions, among them State Deputy Kalashnikov obstructed the work of a television filming crew from STB near the Verkhovna Rada.

They forcibly removed a video cassette with footage and the journalists were assaulted. On 14 July the prosecutor’s office of the Pechersky District in Kyiv launched a criminal investigation over the obstruction of the journalists’ legitimate activities.

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