THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Two journalists suffered damage when their property was set on fire in the Rivne Region. At night, unknown persons set fire to the house of 63-year-old Oleksandr Namozov, a famous Kostopil Town journalist. Fortunately, Oleksandr Namozov was able to extinguish the house by himself. And a day before that, someone set fire to the car of 42-year-old Vlad Isaiev, the head of the Rivne-based news agency Zakhidnyi Arhument [Western Argument].
According to Oleksandr Namozov, on June 16, at 1:30 a.m., an arson occurred in the private country house where he lives. He heard a short bark from his dog. The barking quickly stopped; it was not supported by the neighbor’s German shepherd, as is usually the case. After some time, Oleksandr felt an unpleasant smell and went outside to see if everything was okay. Outside, he saw that the house was on fire in four places. The journalist managed to put out the fire with the help of water reserves. Rescuers and police officers who arrived at the scene found shoe prints and traces of fuel and lubricants used by the evildoer. As it turned out, the attacker neutralized the dogs with a special device.
“When I saw that the house was on fire, I thought it was done intentionally to lure me out, and even expected a shot. But, fortunately, there was no shot… But there was actually a threat to life: as the forensic experts said, if I were asleep, I would soon suffocate from carbon monoxide. Fortunately, I managed to put out the fire before the fire reached the wooden parts of the building,” Oleksandr said in a comment to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). “I am happy I am alive, and the house did not burn down, and the fire did not spread to neighboring buildings.”
The journalist says that he suspects incumbent employees of the local authorities of ordering the arson since, in recent years, he has written a lot of critical articles about corruption in the city council on the Facebook group Nash Kostopil [Our Kostopil], which has 17,000 subscribers and which he administers.
Dmytro Tarasiuk, the head of the Rivne regional organization of the NUJU, has no doubts that it was Oleksandr Namozov‘s (who, by the way, is a member of the secretariat of the regional organization of the Union), “cost of his journalistic activity.”
A day earlier, unknown persons set fire to the car of the head of the Rivne news agency Zakhidnyi Arhument, Vlad (Vladyslav) Isaiev.
As the journalist reported in a comment for the NUJU, the day before, he left his car in a parking lot near one of the public catering establishments, and the next day, when he got there, he saw his car already destroyed.
According to the journalist, he does not have any businesses, or property disputes, is not related to any criminal schemes, and does not engage in political activities. He connects the burning of his car with journalistic activities. “I have been involved in journalism – critical journalism all my life. Therefore, the only explanation for setting fire to my car at night can be linked to my professional activity, which someone is very afraid of,” the journalist notes. At the same time, he does not know who exactly committed the crime.
Vladyslav filed a statement with the police and gave the necessary testimony. The investigation is underway.
According to the Main Department of the National Police in the Rivne Region, a report about a Chrysler car on fire on Danyla Halytskoho Street was received by the special hotline 102 at 3:45 a.m., June 15. The resident of the neighboring house told the investigative team that he heard an incomprehensible sound in the morning. When I looked out the window, I saw sparks in the front part of the car, after which the alarm went off, and the car started burning. As a result, the front part of the vehicle was damaged by fire. The car is currently on a special site. The police inspected the scene of the incident and took the necessary information. Information on intentional damage to property through arson was entered into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations under Section 2 of Article 194 of the Penal Code of Ukraine (intentional destruction or damage to property).
“Currently, urgent investigative measures are being taken to identify persons involved in the committed criminal offense; in particular, video recordings from surveillance cameras are being analyzed. The police are considering different versions of the committed crime, one of which is related to journalistic activity,” law enforcement officers informed.
The NUJU expresses outrage at the damage and destruction of journalists’ property and hopes that the law enforcement officers, having conducted a thorough and objective investigation, will establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
NUJU Information Service
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