Threats to journalist Nikolov: journalist says police released defendants in his case

Investigative journalist Yurii Nikolov has said that the police, after identifying and searching, released five participants who broke into his house, but none of them was served with a notice of suspicion.

Source: Yurii Nikolov on Facebook

Quote from Nikolov: "Today I was at the police station and filed a statement as a victim in the case. I found out that the police, when they found and searched the house, immediately released ‘five participants in illegal actions against the journalist’. No one was detained because no one is suspected now. They're free."

Details: According to Nikolov, law enforcement officers also did not inform him about "the correspondence and testimony found in their possession".

"They promised to tell me when the pre-trial investigation will end. They didn't say when it would end, either. Qualification is now the easiest Art.171.2 (preclusion of legal professional activities of journalists - ed.), without mentioning a crime organised by someone, as in part 3. Life goes on," the journalist wrote.

Background: 

• Yurii Nikolov, an investigative journalist, claimed that on 14 January, unknown people broke into his house in an attempt to intimidate him. Anonymous Telegram channels posted a video of men knocking on his apartment door and threatening him.
• Kyiv police said that they had begun investigating reports of threats against the journalist.
• On 19 January, the Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal investigation into the obstruction of Nikolovʼs work.
• On 21 January, the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office reported that the law enforcement agencies of Kyiv had identified persons who broke into the house of investigative journalist Yurii Nikolov in order to impede his professional duties.
• It was reported that investigative actions are continuing with the offenders, and the issue of serving them with the notice of suspicion is being decided.

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