February 18, 2007
Posted March 2, 2007
Anatoly Shinkarenko, 9 Kanal
ATTACKED
Two men violently attacked Shinkarenko, news director of the local television station 9 Kanal, in the eastern industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk. In late afternoon, Shinkarenko was leaving the café Gnom when two men began punching him, knockimg him off his feet, Shinkarenko told CPJ. The attackers also threatened the journalist, promising to destroy him if he continued to report on an internal conflict at a rival station, 51 Kanal, Shinkarenko told CPJ.
Shinkarenko told CPJ his attackers were the bodyguard and the husband of Regional Council member Vitaliya Shilova, who was recently appointed acting chief of Dnipropetrovsk regional TV channel 51 Kanal. “Our channel reported on 51 Kanal staff’s conflict with the new management, and Shilova’s husband threatened me and told me to stop covering this story,” the journalist told CPJ.
On February 21, the Dnipropetrovsk regional prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case under article 296.1 of Ukrainian Criminal Code for “hooliganism.” The Babushkinsky district police department is currently investigating the case but no arrests have been made.
Chief Editor of 9 Kanal Olga Vladimirova told CPJ that Shinkarenko sustained serious head injuries during the attack. According to Vladimirova, Shinkarenko has been hospitalized in the neurology ward of the Dnipropetrovsk regional hospital since February 18.