Unknown attackers on May 4 staged an assassination attempt on Cherkasy-based journalist Vadym Komarov in Cherkasy, a city of 277,944 people located 188 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.
The National Police initially opened an investigation into battery that led to heavy injuries but re-qualified the case as “murder attempt” on May 6.
Komarov was heavily beaten at about 9 a.m. on May 4 in the center in Cherkasy, and his head was injured. A surgery was performed, and he is currently in a coma.
He has investigated the embezzlement of government funds in Cherkasy, illegal construction projects, corruption at Cherkasy City Council and the circumstances of a riot at a local prison.
This is not the first attack on Komarov.
In 2016 an unknown person shot at Komarov and missed. Komarov said then he attributed the assault to his professional activities, including investigations against judges and law enforcement officials.
The police opened a hooliganism investigation into the 2016 assault.
He said then that the 2016 assault could be due to his investigation into alleged embezzlement at a company called Freestyle, which did not respond to a request for comment.
Komarov also said there could be a link between the 2016 attack and his investigations against Tetyana Troyan, a judge at Cherkasy’s Sosnivsky District Court, and Serhiy Bondarenko, a judge at Cherkasy Oblast’s Court of Appeal.
Troyan and Bondarenko considered a case in which Komarov was the respondent’s representative. Komarov lost the lawsuit, which sought to recover damages for a flooded apartment. Troyan was not available for comment.
Komarov has also accused Bondarenko of ordering an assassination attempt on Cherkasy Oblast Court of Appeal Chairman Volodymyr Babenko when a hand grenade was allegedly installed in his car.
Bondarenko denied the accusations of wrongdoing. He told the Kyiv Post that Komarov could be close to Babenko and could be acting in his interests.
Bondarenko also said that Komarov had failed to present any evidence for his accusations.
Babenko, who declined to comment on the issue, raised the issue of Komarov’s accusations against Bondarenko in 2016.
In 2015 Bondarenko released a recording of Babenko pressuring him to make an unlawful decision in 2013. Babenko is being investigated in a criminal case for this and denies the accusations of wrongdoing.
Komarov said in 2016 he had also been assaulted in 1994.
