Journalist Aleksandr Shchetinin found dead in Kyiv
Founder of “New Region” Russian news agency, journalist Aleksandr Shchetinin was found dead in Kyiv.
As the press service of the National Police department in Kyiv city reports, the law enforcement officers received a report on discovery of the dead body at about midnight.
“A man with a gunshot wound to the head was found on the balcony. According to preliminary findings of the medical examiner, the death occurred within 20:00 – 21:30,” the report reads.
“During the inspection of the scene, the law enforcement officers seized a spent case, traumatic gun, cases to it and a suicide note. The doors of the apartment doors closed. Nothing in the house was broken,” the police reported.
The police initiated the criminal proceedings under Part 1, Article 115 (“intentional homicide”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine with additional legal qualification “suicide.”
The police view suicide and professional activity as basic versions of the death of the journalist.
According to Kyiv city police chief Andriy Kryshchenko, the circumstances of the accident indicate that the journalist committed suicide.
“However, the police investigate the case as under the article of intentional homicide until all the examinations are completed and all the facts are established,” Interfax-Ukraine news agency quotes Kryshchenko as saying
“I have just spoken to a professional forensic medical expert. According to him, there is no indication of violent nature of the crime on the body,” representative of the Interior Ministry Artem Shevchenko wrote on his Facebook page.
Aleksandr Shchetinin lived in Kyiv since 2005. In 2014, he gave up Russian citizenship. Subsequently, he joined the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.