Kharkiv blogger accused MP Tkachenko of organizing his beating

Kharkiv blogger accused MP Tkachenko of organizing his beating

The well-known Kharkiv blogger Davydenko, who films video blogs about the problems of the Novobavarsky district of the city and uploads them to the YouTube channel «Under Control», accused the deputy of the Kharkiv Regional Council, Oleksandr Tkachenko, who is running for a seat in the Verkhovna Rada, of organizing an attack. 

According to the blogger, on May 9, he attended a celebration organized in the Novobavarsky district to ask questions to officials and deputies. Everything was calm until Oleksandr Tkachenko appeared with an unknown man, to whom he gave some kind of instruction. After that, the man approached with questions: «Who are you? What are you filming here? There have been complaints about you…». He did not introduce himself and attempted to snatch the video camera. 

When the blogger turned around and started to run, six men «in unclear uniforms» jumped out from behind a kiosk. They caught up with him and began to beat him. «Three held me while the other three kicked me – mostly in the head and back. They tore the camera away and smashed it to pieces», Davydenko stated. 

According to him, he called the police and approached Oleksandr Tkachenko and the man who initiated the provocation together with a police officer, but in response, they only heard insults and claims that it was all made up. 

The blogger considers the attack a pre-planned provocation and connects it to his active work in the Novobavarskyi district of Kharkiv and the fact that he has repeatedly asked uncomfortable questions to both Oleksandr Tkachenko personally and to district administration officials.

«We asked questions to officials and deputies, and we got hit. No, not answers to questions about your salaries, but for now, only punches to the face. In other words, they didn’t like that we go around asking questions about your salaries, the quality of work performed, the condition of schools, hospitals, and kindergartens. They clearly didn’t like it, so they decided to stage a provocation», he stated. 

«You should have seen their smiles when I was choking on blood, how satisfied they were, how they rejoiced. If a deputy of just a local level beats an activist, what can we expect when this deputy becomes a member of the Verkhovna Rada? Will he start burning us or put us and our families under the knife?», Davydenko emphasized. 

As a reminder, the controversial Kharkiv deputy from the Vidrodzhennya party, Tkachenko, became known after he called voters «bastards», «scum», and «trash», and also threatened activists with reprisals.  

He also came into the media spotlight as one of the participants in the infamous «cooperative scheme». Recently, it became known that the prosecutor’s office has taken up another case against Deputy Tkachenko – regarding the resale of his own building to the city council with a million-hryvnia profit. 

At the same time, despite the widespread publicity of these cases, law enforcement has not yet taken action on them. 

Additionally, the media accused Tkachenko of using the colors of President Zelenskyy’s political party in his outdoor advertising. 

kh.depo.ua