Anatoliy Bidzyura, a journalist of the "Novovolynsk" newspaper, while carrying out an assignment from the publication's editorial office, was photographing members of the Novovolynsk city election commission during the performance of their duties. For this, the TVK members, who did not like the journalist's actions, tried to expel him from the commission's premises. Particularly active during these events was commission member from the Party of Regions Vasylchuk Viktor Hryhorovych (born 1961). A verbal argument arose between the journalist and the commission members, during which another Vasylchuk – Artem Viktorovych (born 1984), delegated to the TVK by the "Batkivshchyna" All-Ukrainian Association – called the journalist a "monkey." Law enforcement officers intervened in the conflict and drew up an administrative offense report against the journalist!!!
Thus, the journalist's rights were violated and deliberate obstruction of his lawful activity was committed, which falls under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
This incident was reported to the OPORA Civic Network by Anatoliy Bidzyura's colleague, journalist Ihor Zhelizko.
An interesting fact: both commission members – participants in the conflict with the journalist – are relatives. Viktor Vasylchuk is the father of Artem Vasylchuk. And although they represent two irreconcilable political opponents – the PR and the BYuT – in this episode they acted in concert. According to observations by OPORA sources, it is precisely these individuals who have a decisive influence on the entire activity of the commission, especially Viktor Vasylchuk, a former judge of the city court.
Local observers note that members of the Novovolynsk TVK often create deliberate obstacles in order to complicate the process of submitting documents for registration for certain political forces. In particular, the precondition for the conflict with the journalist was sharp discussions between TVK members and representatives of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists. The commission repeatedly returned documents of various parties and candidates for deputies for revision. Moreover, this was done knowingly and deliberately – each time a new error was sought out, instead of explaining to party representatives from the first time which documents had remarks. In some cases, as later became clear, the TVK members' claims were unfounded.
More detailed information is available from the coordinator of the civic election observation campaign of the OPORA Civic Network in the Volyn region. Mykhailo Shelep, tel.: 067-41-65-086, mike.shelep@gmail.com