(RSF/IFEX) – RSF said it was shocked by a home-made bomb attack early on 30 September 2005 on the car of Walid Harfouch, managing editor of the Ukrainian celebrity magazine “Paparazzi”, saying it was clearly aimed at preventing an issue due out later in the day with a cover story about President Viktor Yushchenko’s son, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF said it was shocked by a home-made bomb attack early on 30 September 2005 on the car of Walid Harfouch, managing editor of the Ukrainian celebrity magazine “Paparazzi”, saying it was clearly aimed at preventing an issue due out later in the day with a cover story about President Viktor Yushchenko’s son, Andriy.
“No one can place themselves above the law and try to pressure a publication in this way,” the organisation said. “We remind President Yushchenko of his press freedom promises and the fact that the call for an end to censorship was a battle cry of the Orange Revolution. We urge him to take energetic measures to ensure that those responsible for this attack are quickly identified and punished.”
The attack took place at about 3:00 a.m. (local time) on 30 September, when several unidentified persons broke the windows of Harfouch’s car and then threw a home-made bomb at it, damaging the vehicle. The car was parked outside his home in the centre of Kiev, near the presidential office. Police arrived at the scene immediately.
On 22 September, the English-language “Kiev Post” revealed that the cover story of the 30 September issue of “Paparazzi”, which has a circulation of 62,000, would be about the president’s son’s vacation in Turkey. The magazine’s editorial staff immediately began receiving verbal pressure from officials, but decided to stick with the planned cover story.
“The magazine should come out this evening, everything is ready,” Walid Harfouch told RSF on 30 September. “This attack is clearly designed to intimidate us and prevent ‘Paparazzi’ from being published. I got home last night at about 11:00 p.m. and I have the feeling that I was followed. Everything was clearly well-prepared.” Walid Harfouch was taken in for questioning by the police.
The magazine’s front page is headlined “How the Tsarevitch spent his holidays” and shows Andriy Yushchenko in a suggestive pose with his girlfriend.
Omar Harfouch, the magazine’s editor, was previously the target of intimidation after publishing photos of the president’s son on 14 February. A month later, Andriy Yushchenko personally threatened him in the presence of many witnesses as he was dining in a Kiev restaurant. The president’s son was accompanied by bodyguards who openly displayed their firearms.
“The president’s office went out of its way to reassure me after that incident, but at that moment I decided to leave Kiev,” Omar Harfouch said.
Andriy Yushchenko’s lavish lifestyle has often been in the news this summer and the press has taken to calling him the “son of God,” much to the president’s annoyance. “Act like a well-behaved journalist and not a contract killer,” the president snapped at a journalist when questioned about his son at a 28 July press conference. He later tried to defuse the tension by apologising to the reporter.
