Attack on journalists and lawyers by Municipal Guard investigated in Odessa, Ukraine

Monday, July 16, 2018

Yesterday at a meeting of Odessa City Council, deputy Vadim Tereshchuk proposed an official investigation of the abuse of authority by the employees of the Department of Municipal Guard, who beat up journalists and lawyers the day before. The vice-mayor Anatoly Orlovsky did not support the request of Tereshchuk. However, he instructed the officials to inform the deputies about the progress of the investigation and its results.

On July 13, employees of the municipal enterprise “Municipal Guard” attacked journalists who were filming the activity of Odessa city crews. As a result of the incident three journalists suffered, employees of the municipal enterprise used tear gas against them and beat them with rubber clubs.

The events took place near one of the city parking lots in the center of Odessa. There were several cars of the “Municipal Guard”. Their goal was to dismantle the parking bars of the “Redut” law company. However, they met resistance of the parking lot renter’s employees. It ended up with a conflict. The journalists were recording what was happening on cameras, but for some unknown reason the representatives of the “Municipal Guard” used special equipment in the form of tear gas and rubber clubs. As a result, three journalists were injured. At least two of them were delivered to a medical facility.

At the moment, there are criminal proceedings: part 2 of Article 296 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine; Article 171 (obstruction of the professional activity of journalists); article 345-1 (threat or violence against a journalist).

Two employees of the Municipal Guard were reported of suspicions. Odessa Local Prosecutor’s Office No. 3 is in charge of the criminal investigation which was opened after the events on the Nekrasova street.

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