Media Union Journalist beaten in Kyiv

On around 8 in the evening of 8 June, Georgy Erman, Executive Secretary of the Kyiv branch of the Independent Media Trade Union was set upon by five assailants near the Darnytsa Metro Station.

The assailants demanded that he chant some nationalist slogans while they videoed it, and threatened him for having, as they claimed, insulted nationalists in his articles.

Some of the assailants were in masks.  Even after Erman told them that he opposed any ideology based on hate and that he had no anti-Ukrainian views, they hurled an egg at his face.

Yury Lukanov, Head of the Independent Media Trade Union has stated that the union will use all available methods to protect their staff and members. 

He stresses that the Union is made up of journalists with different, even opposing views and they are united by the wish to defend the right of each person to exress his or her views.