Journalist Pavel Sheremet killed in car blast

Famous journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed early Wednesday in a car explosion in downtown Kyiv.

According to Ukrayinska Pravda online newspaper, the car exploded at the corner of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Ivan Franko streets outside a McDonalds restaurant

The exploded car belonged to Olena Prytula, the owner of Ukrainska Pravda, but she was not in the car.

 

 

 

 

 

The blast occurred at 07:45 Kyiv time when Sheremet was driving the car.

Pavel Sheremet worked on Belarusian TV channels. The conflict with the regime of President Lukashenko, arrest and suspended sentence forces Sheremet to move to Russia, where he worked on central TV channels. For the past five years, Sheremet lived in Kyiv, working for Ukrainska Pravda and hosting a radio show on Radio Vesti.

Kyiv city prosecutor Roman Hovda informed that the murder of journalist was qualified under the Criminal Code’s article “intentional homicide, committed in a way dangerous to the lives of many people.”

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuri Lutsenko posted on his Facebook page that Sheremet had been killed as a result of detonation of an explosive device.

Head of the National Police of Ukraine Khatia Dekanoidze said that investigation into the murder of prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet was a matter of honor for her.

Advisor to the Interior Minister of Ukraine Zorian Shkiriak noted that the investigation preliminarily considered the following main reasons for the murder of journalist Sheremet: professional activity, enmity and a so-called “Russian trace.”