MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2019) Harlem Desir, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, called on Ukraine on Monday to carry out a thorough investigation into the attempted murder of Ukrainian journalist Vadim Komarov.
Komarov, an activist and journalist known for his investigative reports on corruption, was attacked on Saturday in the Ukrainian city of Cherkasy. Komarov was taken to a hospital with a head injury, where he remains in coma after a neurosurgical operation. Following the incident, Ukrainian police initiated legal proceedings under the article on attempted intentional homicide.
"I condemn this very violent attack ... This targeted attack is particularly alarming and cannot remain unpunished. The investigation was promptly initiated and I call on the authorities to do their utmost to fully investigate the crime," Desir said, adding that such crimes cannot remain unpunished.
He also expressed hope that Komarov would recover soon and would be protected from violence and intimidation.
According to media reports, Komarov was attacked shortly before the planned release of his new exclusive investigation.
Over the past few years, violence against journalists in Ukraine has reached an appalling scale and even resulted in deaths, with victims including Ukrainian journalist and writer Oles Buzina, reporter Pavel Sheremet, photojournalist of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Andrei Stenin, Rossiya tv channel's Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, and Channel One cameraman Anatoly Klyan.
