The Krug television company has asked law enforcement agencies to protect its journalist, Dmitry Bakayev.
(CJES/IFEX) – The Krug television company has asked law enforcement agencies to protect its journalist, Dmitry Bakayev, says a 5 June 209 news report.
According to the company’s editor-in-chief Anna Berdichevskaya, Bakayev, who is the author and the host of the television program “Seyuzhiye Veter” (which translates as “The Ones Sowing the Wind. . .”) is being threatened with violence. The company’s administration has reported the threats to the Ukrainian Security Service department in the Odessa region, the region’s prosecutor’s office, and the regional department of the Interior Ministry.
Berdichevskaya said Bakayev recently hosted a program involving friends of Maksim Chaika, the leader of the Sich organization, who was recently killed in Odessa. On that program, Bakayev also mentioned Ukrainian security service statements saying that Ihor Markov, a former member of the city council, was involved in the financing of the organization Antifa, whose members are suspected of killing Chaika.
The television company has issued an official statement saying it has received anonymous phone calls from people who threatened to punish the journalist for reporting information “harming the reputation of the party Rodina and its leader Ihor Markin.”
“The administration of the television company Krug is extremely concerned about this situation and does not intend to ignore the threats made to its journalist. For this reason, we have decided to make the threats public and we are asking the law enforcement agencies to protect our journalist Dmitry Bakayev,” the television company said in a statement.
According to Berdichevskaya, the prosecutors did not accept the report of the threats. The Interior Ministry did accept it, but as of 5 June had yet to react to it.
