Journalist says he was attacked while investigating vote-buying

Kost Kovalenko who writes for the information agency HolosUA and other publications has reported being beaten up in Berdychev where he was investigating voter-buying in No. 63 single-mandate electoral district. The police say that they are looking into his statement.

The electoral district in question has been of interest to journalists since five currnt MPs are competing, together with the former head of the State Property Fund and a former adviser to Prime Minister Azarov, Mykola Petrenko.

 Kost Kovalenko asserts that after arriving in Berdychev, he managed to get information about vote-buying by Petrenko.  He says that he passed this information on to the civic network OPORA and international observers on 14 October.  The next day, he asserts, he .was confronted by 21-30 burly men who proceeded to beat, intimidate and torture him. He says that he informed OPORA on 16 October and reported the incident to the police the following day.

The police have said that they are investigating but also state that a medical examination failed to find any signs of injury.