Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court ruled on Wednesday to release on bail Vadym Titushko, who is suspected of beating Channel 5 journalist Olha Snitsarchuk on May 18 in Kyiv, while the investigation into the case proceeds.
Channel 5 reported that the amount of bail is Hr 22,940. The investigator proposed to place the suspect under house arrest and the prosecution supported this proposal, while Titushko’s lawyers claimed that their client is innocent and demanded that he be releasesd.
According to Channel 5, Titushko may be released from detention on Wednesday.
The court hearing was held behind closed doors and the media were admitted to the courtroom only to hear the ruling.
As reported, a conflict erupted between representatives of the opposition and a group of unidentified men on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street in Kyiv at about 1420 on May 18, which later turned into a brawl. The young men began throwing water bottles and stones.
Several people, including Channel 5 journalist Olha Snitsarchuk and Kommersant photographer Vlad Sodel, were injured in the incident.
The scuffle took place during the opposition’s Rise Up, Ukraine! campaign (on Sofiyska Square) and a Party of Regions rally (on European Square). The incident occurred outside the building of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s office in Kyiv.
On May 20, it was reported that the leadership of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s main office in Kyiv had ordered an internal investigation regarding the inaction of law enforcement officers during the incident on Velyka Zhytomyrska Street on May 18.
On May 21, the media liaisons office of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported that a suspect in the beating of journalists had been detained.
In addition, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko said that the police had reclassified the investigation into the May 18 incident from “causing minor injuries” of Part 1, Article 121 to “hooliganism” of Part 2, Article 296 of the Criminal Code.
