Son of Party of the Regions deputy assaults journalist

The son of Brovary Deputy from the Party of the Regions, Natalia Bahmut is reported to have assaulted a local journalist, Andriy Kachor, together with a colleague, Ihor Ivanov and civic activist and member of the Kholodny Yar Initiative, Andriy Yulov.

The attack took place in a local café Monte Carlo.  Andriy Kachor was sitting with his friends when Roman Bahmut turned up with some strangers of sturdy build. He immediately began hurling threats at Kachor, and when the latter’s friends protested, began flinging dishes at them. Bahmut hit one of them several times, then, having noticed that Andriy Kachor was filming this, lunged at him, grabbed his mobile telephone and flung it on the ground. He tried to get away before the police arrived but was stopped by the café’s security guards and other people present.

This is Bahmat’s second attack on Andriy Kachor. On 29 May while the latter was carrying out a journalist investigation in the local café “Music Hall”, Bahmut who owns the café inflicted injuries on the journalist and threw him out. The incident gained press attention and the material of the administrative case over the incident was passed to the court. However the local law enforcement bodies refused to initiate a criminal investigation over obstruction by Bahmut of a journalist carrying out his work for want, they claimed, of elements of a crime. The journalist is appealing against this decision to the Prosecutor.

Asked by the Institute for Mass Information whether he links the attack with his professional work, his answer was affirmative. He said that he had carried out a number of journalist investigations linked with abuse by Brovary officials, including Bahmut’s mother.