Two journalists were attacked in Zaporozhye
Zaporozhye oblast youth public organization “Young Rukh”
This information was communicated by Anatoliy Eriomin, the prosecutor of the Khortitskiy district of Zaporozhye. According to the prosecutor’s words, on 3 September Sergiy Goncharenko, a journalist of the newspaper “Zaporizhska Sich”, was stabbed with knife in his stomach. “The victim tells that a stranger greeted him in the doorway of his house. The journalist answered the greeting. After this he felt the acute pain in his stomach and saw that he was wounded with the knife”. The journalist got to a hospital, where he underwent a surgical operation. Now his condition is of medium gravity. Eriomin informs that both the victim and editor of the newspaper “Zaporizhska Sich” Oleksandr Veriovkin reckon that the attack was caused by the preparation of the material about the repartition of the property in the sphere of trade and privatization. The criminal case was started after part 4 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “hooliganism with the application of cold steel”.
On 4 September 2003 Mykola Loy, the a deputy of the manager of the weekly “Dosye” in charge of the questions of sale, was beaten in the Khortitskiy district of Zaporozhye. “Three strangers attacked him in the yard of his house and delivered several blows in his face”, tells the prosecutor of the Khortitskiy district. The criminal case was started after part 2 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “hooliganism committed by a group of persons”.
It should be noted that both journalists lived in the same house. The second attack took place on the next day after the first one.
In both cases the hooligans did not took from the victims either money or other things.
The oblast organization of the National union of journalists turned to the prosecutor of the Zaporozhye oblast, the head of the militia directorate of the Zaporozhye oblast and mass media: “We have the grounds to believe that these crimes were connected with the professional activities of the victims. The oblast organization of the National union of journalists is turning to leaders of law-enforcing structures with the demand to investigate thoroughly the criminal cases started after the facts of the attacks on the workers of mass media, and to guarantee the safety of journalists”.
(“Prava ludyny” (English version), September 2003)
***
In the evening of 3 September a young man with a knife in his stomach was transported to the casualty ward of the 9th city hospital of Zaporozhye. This was Sergey Goncharenko, a free-lance correspondent of the municipal newspaper “Zaporizka Sich”.
Sergey believes that the reason of the attack was his journalistic activities, in particular, the publication of the article about the repartition of property in the trade sphere. Goncharenko tells that more than once some people phoned him, offered money and threatened him with physical violence. Aleksandr Veriovkin, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Zaporizka Sich”, adheres to the same opinion. He told that Goncharenko was preparing the materials about the illegal actions “concerning very great sums of money that may be connected with shadow economics”.
The attack on the journalist is investigated by a special group.
(«Fakty», No. 162, 6 September 2003)
***
On the next day after the attack on S. Goncharenko Mykola Loy, a worker of the newspaper “Dosye” in charge of sale of the edition, was attacked by strangers near his own flat. Many mass media informed that M. Loy was the acting manager of the newspaper, but this information was not true; moreover, he did not work in the edition since 5 September. Criminal cases after Article 296 were started in both cases: “hooliganism” with the use of cold steel in the first case, and “hooliganism” committed by a group in the second case.
As to the attack on Anatoliy Naumov, a journalist of “Dosye”, which was committed in July 2003, law-enforcers have now his explanation that he fell down and bruised himself.
(«Dosye», Zaporozhye, No. 38, 11 September 2003)