A court qualified successive (within an hour) attacks on three camera crews with beating, crashing equipment and spoiling journalists’ personal possessions under Part 1, Article 171 of the Penal Code of Ukraine “Obstructing to journalists’ lawful professional activities” and punished with a UAH 1,700 ($ 65) fine. The Bohunskyi District Court of Zhytomyr handed down such a judgement in 2016 in case No. 295/1778/16-к.
Ukrainian News Agency wrote this in an article “It’s cheaper to beat a journalist than litigate” following analysis of the investigation into criminal cases for attacks on journalists.
The facts of the case, described in the award, are as follows: a fire occurred at the health-improvement complex Volna in Zhytomyr in October 2015. A female Zhytomyr.today press photographer arrived in an hour. Overtly demonstrating her press card, she began taking pictures of the territory access to which was not prohibited previously. The mistress of the complex popped out of the building swearing and tried to tear the photographic camera away from the newswoman. Then she grabbed the journalist by the hair and started to shake her. The photographer managed to escape.
In a couple of minutes, a Zhytomyr.info camera crew arrived here too. They introduced themselves to the guard. Began recording a piece with a radio microphone. The same mistress jumped out. First she ordered the guard to take away the camera and beat the journalists. The guard refused, and then she tore away the microphone, broke the rod, caught the cameraman by the scarf and tried to strangle him. When the camera crew “fought back,” the mistress with the microphone and the broken rod returned to the building.
But several minutes later an SK-1 TV channel camera crew appeared near the complex and began communicating with the Zhytomyr.info crew. And here the recidivist mistress came to the stage. She turned to blowing the cameraman on the face and body and grasping him by the clothes. A journalist gave her a reproof and began filming with a mobile phone. The business woman hopped to her and tried to pull the phone, failed, returned to the cameraman and tore off the collar of his overcoat.
The mistress of the complex did not admit her guilt at the trial. She claimed that she suffered from the fire enough. And journalists were trying to film on a “private territory.” The tribunal disregarded her words. And “punished” to the maximum of the article inculpated by prosecutors.
The recidivist was punished with 50 personal exemptions under Article 171 and 55 personal exemptions under Article 347 (Malicious destruction of property).
As Ukrainian News Agency reported, following a scrutiny of statistics, 92% of offences against members of the media remain unpunished.
Only one in 12 cases on attacks on journalists and obstruction to the media work comes to trial.
And the charged offenders even after beating and damage to the costly equipment get away with with USD 20–50 fines.
This piece is part of the campaign to fight impunity for the offences committed against journalists.
Ukrainian News Agency is an official partner for the International Federation of Journalists and the National Union of Journalists in this campaign.
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