Active Sternenko, passive servants. How the Sheremet Court terrorized journalists and why the authorities are silent

Yesterday in Kiev attacked several journalists at once. This was done by the support group of the murder suspect of Pavel Sheremet – Yulia Kuzmenko.

Representatives of several publications suffered at once. They attacked someone near the courthouse, but basically the support group of Kuzmenko attacked those who were in the hall, trying to push them out.

They threatened the journalist of the “Country” Julia Korzun.

At the same time, the authorities at the level of “Servants of the People” decided to remain silent on this uncomfortable topic. On the one hand, fearing to offend the right-wing radicals and run into new accusations of “surrender.” On the other, not wanting to support journalists who often criticize the new government.

“Country” understood what is known about the scandal after almost a day.

What happened in court
The correspondent of the publication “Shary.net” Dmitry Kucher, a crowd of dozens of radicals surrounded at the door of the court, began to be rude and insult. The coachman was stabbed several times and doused with pre-stored urine.

“When I left the courthouse, an unknown woman started shouting to me“ journalist Sharia! ”I was immediately surrounded by 50 people from the support group of Yulia Kuzmenko. They threatened me and asked stupid questions. An unknown man stabbed me in the leg with three kicks. Another poured urine. Volodimir Zelensky, pay attention to this! Most of these people go under the “office”, the head of which is Ivan Bakanov, “the journalist described the situation.

Later, a video of the attack appeared. It shows how the crowd surrounded Kucher, asking him questions like “Whose Crimea” and demanding to answer in Ukrainian.

Some of the “activists” had some kind of dialogue with the journalist, while others shouted insults. One can see how they poured onto the journalist’s trousers from the bottle with urine and shouted: “You pissed!”

In the beginning, Anastasia Zhizhevskaya, a colleague from ZiK, tried to help Dmitry, but she was wiped to the side, hitting, as was later claimed, her hands. She was also prevented from broadcasting live.

Of the attackers on the video, three famous personalities can be identified.

According to Kucher, the urine was poured on him by the radical OUN Vitaly Regor.

This character is known for several scandalous episodes at once: in 2016, he stabbed an Iranian citizen, in the same year, he tore the St. George ribbon from a 10-year-old girl on May 9.

This picture then went around many media:

Later, in September, apparently in revenge for the girl, they tried to kill him in Kiev. The attacking resident of Crimea was caught, sentenced to 8 years, but then transferred to an exchange in Russia.

The second is SBU agent Aleksey Tsymbalyuk, who participated in the re-enactment of the murder of journalist Arkady Babchenko. It can be seen on the video in the forefront of the people around Kucher.

In the summer, Tsymbalyuk was announced suspected of assaulting the journalist of the “Country” Vlad Bovtruk. The investigation into it was completed in September. The first court hearing is scheduled for January 30. Tsymbalyuk has been going free all this time.

The radical Sergey Sternenko, who stabbed a man in Odessa last year and injured another, was shooting beside a journalist. The police still suspected him in the summer, but the new prosecutor general, Ruslan Ryaboshapka, blocked him and transferred the case to the SBU, where it is allegedly being investigated.

Exactly the same thing was done by his predecessor Yuri Lutsenko.

As Strana already said, Sternenko, like Tsymbalyuk, is closely connected with the office. Apparently, this is why he still goes to protests, and does not sit in prison. Moreover, according to the “Servant of the People”, the radical was under state protection for shares.

“My sources report that the security service of the Sternenko killer is provided by SBU employees. The same SBU who is investigating the case of the Sternenko killer,” Alexander Dubinsky wrote in the telegram.

That is, at the arena all the same — the radicals who had nightmarized the street under Poroshenko feel at ease with Zelensky.

What happened in court
Inside the conference room was another group of Kuzmenko supporters. They staged a real hunt for “not such” correspondents.

They were required to leave the court and threatened with the fate of the beaten Dmitry Kucher.

Under this persecution, the journalist of the “Country” Julia Korzun.

“I came to court on an editorial assignment. Near the conference room I met Shary.net journalists Antonina Beloglazova and Dmitry Kucher, greeted them. All of Yulia Kuzmenko’s friends drew attention to this and for some reason decided that I was also a Shary journalist. net “.

I filmed what is happening in court, passed the news to the publisher. For a better overview, she stood on the bench, right in front of me immediately stood one of Kuzmenko’s friends, a blonde. I calmly filmed, and she turned around and looked at me throughout the meeting. She photographed me and shot me on video, why – I do not know. She showed me to her friends, called me a “Sharia prostitute” and shouted to the whole room that I was from Sharia. When I objected that I was not working for Sharia and showed the editorial certificate of the “Country”, she tried to wrest it from my hands. Others shouted that “Country” is also a very bad publication from their point of view, “said Julia.

The second girl from the support group, Kuzmenko, went outside, and when she returned, she announced the “good” news about the attack on Dmitry Kucher.

“Another blonde went outside with the company, then came back and announced:” News from the rear. There, this Shariev journalist, this boy, was pushed into a corner, poured with urine (we are talking about Dmitry Kucher, he also told the Land in detail about the attack – Ed.). I told the guys that there was another colleague in the hall … “And she showed me like a gunner. Everyone turned to me. Then she told me personally:” I warn you, you won’t leave the courtroom. There already one journalist Sharia was beaten. They are waiting for you very much. “She said that I was next after Kucher. And they sent me” greetings “from the radicals Sternenko and Tsymbalyuk,” said Korzun.

This woman is visible in the photo:

Then another “activist” approached Yulia and started shouting to the whole hall that she was “from the FSB” and that she needed security.

Later they tried to push Yulia out of the courtroom – this was done by the very woman who threatened our journalist that she was “waiting on the street.”

Korzun called the police, but she refused to come. As a result, Julia was taken out of court by representatives of a private security agency, which the editorial office had to call.

Earlier, the journalist Shary.net, Antonina Beloglazova, who also called the police, was pushed out of the courtroom.

“This wild crowd piled on me, trying to push out of the courtroom. How they threatened and called names. It all happened in front of the OSCE representative,” Antonina writes on Facebook.

The media also published a video on how they blocked the work of Beloglazova.

Kuzmenko’s supporters also had nightmares for Newsone, ZIK, and 112 journalists in the hall. As a result, three journalists – Korzun, Beloglazova and Kucher – filed a statement with the police.

Authorities reaction
Officially, the ruling party did not comment on what was happening. The people’s deputy Dubinsky declared that there was a discussion in the party, but decided not to react.

“Niyako’s attack was not a blunder. Bula is the sound of people with different looks,” they write in the internal chat of our press service about the incident with the journalist Kucher, who was poured in urine by supporters of Yulia Kuzmenko.

Now I will always take a bottle of urine for the fraction, because we often have different views with people there. ”

There is no reaction from Zelensky.

Of the parliamentary political parties, only the Opposition Platform For Life made a statement, which accused the authorities of indulging the radicals and called for investigating threats and attacks against journalists.

But the reaction of law enforcement officers was fast enough. It is possible, due to the coincidence of interests: the support group Kuzmenko violently attacks not only journalists, but also Arsen Avakov.

“Investigators qualified the incident as a threat and violence against journalists and entered information in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations under Part 2 of Article 345-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (intentional infliction of beatings, light or moderate bodily harm on a journalist). The sanction provides for up to five years in prison, ”the police said.

And the head of the National Police Igor Klimenko separately made a statement about the inadmissibility of violence and threats against journalists.

“My position is clear and fundamental: any manifestations of aggression or the use of force against journalists are unacceptable,” Klimenko said.
The journalist of the “Country” Julia Korzun today went to the police to testify. She was officially granted victim status in the case.

And, it is possible that in the near future suspicion will be announced to those who threatened.

True, whether this then leads to a court verdict in the foreseeable future is a big question. While radicals cannot be convicted even of such high-profile crimes as the murder of Oles Buzina, the trial has been going on for almost two years (and before that two years were under investigation).

What does an attack on journalists mean?
Attempts to nightmare media at court hearings is not new to post-Maidan Ukraine. This is not the first time our colleagues have been beaten where there should not be a hint of unlawful behavior.

This is done by the hands of right-wing radicals, who are still not suppressed by the authorities. Even those on whom serious criminal offenses hang.

Some of them, after a short period of silence caused by the election of Zelensky, again took to the streets. And they continue to act in the usual way – to poison dissidents. Among them, journalists occupy a special place.

What happened yesterday in the Court of Appeal of Kiev was precisely an obstacle to the work of journalists. What the police reacted to at least somehow, after all, but the central government does not say a word.

Therefore, there is great doubt that this time someone will be punished. The new government flirts with the right-wing radicals in the same way as the old. And in this sense, nothing has changed since Zelensky came to power. Regor, Sternenko, Tsymbalyuk and other “twin cities” continue to attack people in Kiev with impunity.

But there is a significant difference with the times of Poroshenko.

Under Peter Alekseevich, the radicals faithfully served Bankova and beat only those who were needed. And under Zelensky, they are already acting against the interests of the new president, who personally sanctified the detention of the same Yulia Kuzmenko, having come to a briefing to Arsen Avakov on December 13.

That is, chaos of radicals used to come from Poroshenko’s “strength”. And today it speaks only of Zelensky’s weakness, which cannot restore order in the streets and restrain obvious criminals posing as activists.

The story of the scandal at the trial of Kuzmenko was dealt with by the author of the blog “Clearly. Clearly” Olesya Medvedev.

Information taken from: https://strana.ua/news/241331-napadenija-na-zhurnalistov-v-sude-po-sheremeru-rekonstruktsija.html