Halya Coynash: Road Control activist shot, wounded in latest attack on group
A Road Control activist has been shot and injured, and his car burned in the latest attack on people from this civic watchdog which monitors the work of the traffic police. Since Road Control journalist Andriy Zhukovyen was granted political asylum in the United States in November, two people closely connected with Road Control – journalist Andriy Dzyndzya and his lawyer Viktor Smaliy – have been remanded in custody for two months on questionable charges. Two others – first journalist Svitlana Malytska, and on Saturday evening Volodymyr Maralov – have been brutally attacked. In both cases, it is clear that these were not random attacks, but directly linked to their work for Road Control. Small wonder that the organization’s founder, Rostislav Shaposhnikov is planning to stay put in Poland, This is an appalling record made especially chilling if we consider who might have a motive. Over recent year’s Road Control activists’ monitoring, videoing of dodgy practices by traffic police officers and civil suits, have first and foremost riled the police. Malytska whom the assailants called a “road whore” has produced investigations which have enabled Road Control to win over 10 court cases against the Kyiv prosecutor’s office, and regional prosecutor’s offices.