In a video that leaked online, the man wanted for questioning by police in connection with the assault on journalists photographing a confrontation between opposition activists and a group of sportsmen at Saturday’s political rallies in Kyiv, says he was not attacking them, but protecting them.
“I
saw the journalist (Olha
Snitsarchuk) just fall down, and me and the guys, we were protecting her
from the crowd so she wouldn’t get kicked,” Vadim Titushko says in the YouTube
video published on May 20. “I am accused of beating a female journalist,
Alena (Olha) Snitsarchuk. Such was not the case, I assure you.”
He
continues, saying that he did not hit the journalists, but watched them stumble
and Snitsarchuk fall on her own. “I saw myself as this young lady just fell.
The boys then ran up and gathered around her, I (made sure) the mass of people did
not trample (her),” he says. “I am a normal, ordinary guy from a simple
family,” he continues. “I was brought up properly and to not raise a hand
against a woman.”
Titushko
goes on to say that he was hired by the opposition factions as an enforcer at the
rally. His job, he says, was to watch the tail-end of the opposition’s march
from European Square to Sofiyska Square.
“I’m
moonlighting in protection, of different groups and at meetings such as this here,” he says. “On May 17, I was called by a friend and offered a fee of Hr 250 (to
provide protection) on May 18. On the 18th I arrived in Kyiv, got on the phone
with my friend, and he sent me to European (Square), and I was shown what to do.”
Titushko has since been brought in to a Kyiv police station for questioning. It is unclear whether he has been charged with hooliganism or any other crime. Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko told parliament on May 21 that Titushko could be formally arrested and charged, and said the authorities are looking for other suspects.
The scuffle between opposition members and the group of sportsmen occurred outside the building of the
Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s office in Kyiv during the opposition’s Rise Up,
Ukraine! rally at Sofiyska Square and the Party of Regions rally at European
Square.
The Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper reported that members
of a sports club were involved in the incident. Titushko, an athlete from Bila Tserkva, was one of those involved in
the attack on Channel 5 journalist Snitsarchuk
and her husband, Kommersant photographer Vladislav Sodel, according
to accounts from journalists present at the scene.
Photos of Titushko and others involved in the incident circulated quickly
online over the weekend, as journalists asked the public for help in
identifying the attackers.
Olena Bondarenko, a Party of Regions lawmaker,
blamed journalists in a television interview Monday for the delay in finding
Titushko, saying that their crowdsourcing efforts helped him elude authorities.
On Sunday police launched criminal proceedings
in connection with the beating of Snitsarchuk and Sodel during the fight on
Velyka Zhytomyrska street on May 18.
Dozens of journalists rallied outside the Interior
Ministry on May 20 to demand a proper investigation of the beating of the two
journalists who were covering the opposition rally.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the
beating of the journalists and the inaction of police officers, demanding that
law enforcement officers be called to account for their negligence, a statement
posted on the committee’s website read.
“Authorities need to demonstrate that the law
applies to everyone by investigating this deplorable episode, apprehending the
attackers and holding the officers responsible for their negligence,” CPJ
Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.
Speaking
to parliament on Tuesday morning, Vitali Klitschko, leader of the opposition UDAR party, demanded that President Viktor Yanukovych dismiss Ukrainian
Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko over his inability to properly address
the incident.
He noted that the
beating of Snitsarchuk and Sodel during the
opposition rally in Kyiv on May 18 should be investigated by an interim
parliamentary commission.
Kyiv Post staff writer Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], or on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.
