In a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, Kyiv Pechersk court ordered  house arrest and electronic monitoring for 17-years old Anton Holoshchapov standing trial over beating ‘Bukvy’ reporter Oleksandr Kuzhelnii.

Another defendant 20-years old Mykyta Hubskyi was denied the bail and was ordered to bet taken in custody for 2 months.

Hubskyi’s lawyer Eduard Verbinets said they will appeal ‘illegal court decision’ to seek house arrest arguing  the defendant has previous criminal record.

What happened to Oleksandr Kuzhelnii

On Saturday, August 14, ‘Bukvy’ journalist Oleksandr Kuzhelnyi was covering a rally ‘Stop the capitulation’, which brought together different nationalist groups to protest against recent ‘repressions targeting Ukrainian nationalists’ and ‘betrayal of Ukraine’s interests’. When the rally ended, Kuzhelnyi was surrounded and assaulted by a group of angry protesters who demanded the ‘Bukvy’ reporter to delete all the photos he had taken at the event.

Oleksandr Kuzhelnyi noted that one of the attackers, before using force against him, mentioned the attack that took place on July 21 near the the Kyiv court.

The attackers were identified by the ‘National Corps’, whose leader Andriy Biletsky persuaded them to turn themselved in to  police. They did so after a public apology to Kuzhelnyi.

Kyiv police filed charges against two men in connection to beating of ‘Bukvy’ journalist Oleksandr Kuzhelnyi with suspects now facing up to five years in prison.

‘Bukvy’ managed to identify the person who allegedly staged the attack.