Assault on journalists: New notice of suspicion handed over to Ukreximbank head

Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office announced this on its Telegram channel, Ukrinform reports.

On October 8, under the procedural guidance of the Holosiivskyi District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv, a new notice of suspicion was handed over to one of the heads of the state bank as part of proceedings initiated for obstructing the legitimate professional activities of journalists of Skhemy TV program.

The said person is accused of obstructing the lawful professional activities of journalists and illegal detention of people (parts 1, 3 of Article 171, part 2 of Article 146 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The issue of applying a measure of restraint is being considered.

Investigative actions in criminal proceedings are underway.

The pre-trial investigation is being carried out by the Holosiivskyi Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv.

As Ukrinform reported, the film crew of Skhemy reported about an attack on them during an interview with Ukreximbank Board Chairman Yevhen Metsger on October 4. According to the journalists, Metsger did not like one of the questions. Following that, the guards used force against the camera operator and took away equipment and video materials. An hour later, the equipment was returned to the film crew, but the video of the entire interview and the attack itself was deleted.

Later, the journalists of Skhemy said they had managed to recover the video deleted by Ukreximbank employees during the attack on the film crew.

Kyiv law enforcement officers have launched criminal proceedings for obstructing the professional activities of journalists (under Part 1 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

On October 6, the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank decided to remove Chairman of the Board Yevhen Metsger from exercising his powers for the period of investigation into the incident.

On October 7, Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office handed over the notice of suspicion to two officials of Ukreximbank, who were involved in the case on the fact of obstructing the work of journalists of  Skhemy TV program.

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