A car bomb in Kiev, Ukraine has killed prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet. The Guardian reports how Sheremet was on his way to host a morning radio show. Unfortunately, he never arrived at his destination. Security camera footage showed the car pulling up to an intersection where a car bomb ripped through the automobile.
Sheremet had been a writer for one of Ukraine’s top news sites, Ukrainska Pravda. He was critical of leaders in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in the press, which makes his death all the more surrounded by suspicion. Zoryan Shkiryak, an aide to the interior minister, believes the bomb that killed Sheremet was a homemade one that may have been planted on the underside of his vehicle and detonated through a remote-control device (or on a time delay). Svetlana Kalinkina, of the Belarusian online television station Belsat, believes Sheremet was killed because of his professional activities:
“Pasha [Sheremet] didn’t have business or criminal connections, he always said journalists can’t take weapons into their hands and can’t be close to politicians because closeness hurts their independence. I’m 99.9% sure that it was connected with his profession.”
The Ukrainian media circle is stunned by Sheremet’s death and is taking it as a personal attack, as this was not the first time a Ukrainian journalist was killed. In 2000, Ukrainska Pravda founder Heorhiy Gongadze was brutally slayed, and Interior Ministry official was convicted of the killing.
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko offered his condolences for Sheremet and his family, stating it was a “terrible tragedy.” He went on to say he has enlisted specialists from both Europe and the U.S. to help with the investigation.
(Via The Guardian & CBS News)