CPJ reacts to assault of journalist Tetiana Tsyrulnik in Poltava

Ukrainian authorities should quickly investigate the recent attack on journalist Tetiana Tsyrulnik [Tsyrulnik] and ensure the safety of media representatives, the American Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Friday.

This follows from a statement posted on the CPJ website.

“On Tuesday, May 9, Tsyrulnik was covering Victory Day commemorations in the central city of Poltava when a man told her not to take photos and then pushed and slapped her, according to news reports, video of the incident, and Tsyrulnik, who communicated with CPJ via email,” the report says.

Tsyrulnik, the editor-in-chief of the local private news website Kolo.news, reported the incident to the police and wrote a statement at the police station, and underwent a medical examination for minor injuries on the left side of her face.

Police have opened criminal proceedings for “threats or violence against a journalist,” according to Tsyrulnik, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and a representative of the Poltava police communications department who spoke to CPJ via email.

“Verbal and physical violence against journalists in the course of their work is outrageous and cannot go without consequence,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ‘s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator in New York. “CPJ welcomes the responsiveness of Ukrainian authorities regarding the recent attack on journalist Tetyana Tsyrulnik. Police must now swiftly investigate the case and hold the perpetrator accountable.”

The CPJ website states, “While Tsyrulnik was at the Soldier’s Glory Memorial complex to cover the Victory Day commemorations, one man called her a partisan of Ukrainian nationalist figure Stepan Bandera, and then another man shouted at her not to take pictures.

“I replied that I was in a public place, and I had the right to take pictures here,” she told CPJ, adding that she identified herself as a journalist and told him her colleagues were nearby. “At this point, I considered our dialogue over and continued filming, not paying attention to him.”

Then a man suddenly pushed Tsyrulnik from behind, pushing her out of the memorial grounds, calling her abusive words, and yelling that she needed to leave. He had already started to walk away, but then suddenly turned around, said, “I’m going to hit you now,” and hit her in the face, she told CPJ.

“Then, nearby police officers shouted, asking what he was doing, and he stopped, she told CPJ. Tsyrulnik said the police who were at the scene advised her to make an official call, which she did, and the police arrived “very quickly” and took her statement. The man identified himself to the officers as local resident Vitaliy Burmaka.

However, a group of women at the scene denied that any attack had taken place and told Burmaka to keep quiet after he admitted to hitting her, Tsyrulnik said. Officers took him into custody, Tsyrulnik told CPJ.

“The offender has been identified,” the Poltava police representative told CPJ. “Physical evidence is attached to the proceedings…After the completion of the pre-trial investigation, the criminal proceedings with the indictment will be sent to the court for a decision on the punishment of the offender.”

CPJ was unable to find contact information for Burmaka.

Later, other people at the event mocked Tsyrulnik, minimizing the incident and saying “that I have not been raped; it was just a hit,” she said. An unidentified man started chasing her and asked her last name, and the police asked him to leave.

​​”I didn’t write the report [on the Victory Day commemorations] because these two days I just slept, and I don’t feel very well,” the journalist told CPJ.

Besides, CPJ is investigating news reports that on Wednesday, May 10, police and the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, searched the building in the southern city of Odesa, where the local news website Dumska is located. The outlet claimed that the activities of its journalists were obstructed; an SBU press officer said that the search was “in no way related to the journalistic activity” of Dumska.

CPJ emailed Dumska and the SBU but did not receive any reply.”