Court gives suspended sentence to two attackers of journalist Tkach
The Obukhiv District Court of Kyiv Region has sentenced two defendants accused of attacking Mykhailo Tkach, a journalist for the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet, to three years of imprisonment with a probationary period of two years.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the court' s press service.
"On November 28, 2024, the Obukhiv District Court of Kyiv Region convicted two people who a year ago, near the Tandyr restaurant in the village of Kozyn, Obukhiv district, prevented journalists from filming Ukraiinska Pravda," the court said in a statement.
The court found that on November 17, 2023, at about 22:00, Tkach arrived at the Tandoor restaurant to shoot a video in accordance with the editorial assignment. According to the court, the journalist was filming in the restaurant's parking lot, and two people blocked the passage, covered the video camera and interfered with the filming by other active actions.
"The court found both defendants guilty of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely, committing intentional actions that were expressed in any form of influence on a journalist in order to impede the performance of his professional duties, committed by a group of persons without prior conspiracy," the statement
The court took into account the absence of mitigating and aggravating circumstances, the opinion of the parties to the criminal proceedings and sentenced him to three years of restricted liberty with a probationary period of two years.
"The verdict has not entered into force and may be appealed in the courts of appeal and cassation," the statement said.
As previously reported by Censor.NET, journalist Mykhailo Tkach was attacked near the Tandoor restaurant in Kozyn village, Kyiv region. Later, the police reported that criminal proceedings had been initiated over the attack on the journalist near the restaurant near Kyiv.
