The Kherson Regional Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling of the Suvorovsky District Court in Kherson which at the beginning of November found no traces of hooliganism in the actions of journalist and Head of the Kherson Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine during the report to a closed audience by Kherson’s Mayor Saldo on 14 September.

Dementiy Bily explains that on 12 December he received the ruling which puts an end to the attempts to make him into a hooligan who “disrupted” the Mayor’s report. The court confirmed that there were no elements of an administrative offence in his behaviour and rejected Mr Shevchuk’s appeal. The ruling is final and not subject to appeal.

As reported then and later, with these extraordinary attempts to get charges brought against Dementiy Bily, he was himself the victim of violence during the events on 14 September sparked off by the fact that the Mayor’s report was not to all interested citizens but to those invited. Others, including two opposition deputies and journalists tried in vain to get in, even though there were seats available.

Dementiy, who was himself admitted only after the Deputy Head of the Regional Administration intervened, grabbed a microphone and began calling on the Mayor to instruct that all those wishing to hear his report be admitted to the hall. Instead, three men shoved Dementiy out into the foyer, where one proceeded to inflict blows to his face.

The police did nothing until Dementiy’s camera hit the assailant on the forehead as he tried to break free.

The Prosecutor’s Office has initiated a criminal investigation over the assault.