3 March, 12:20
I am informing my subscribers about the developments surrounding the Russian Pin-UP owners’ plan to have me beaten as a journalist for exposing their illegal activities in Ukraine.
After the prosecutor of the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG) presented evidence during a hearing at the Pechersk Court regarding the pre-trial detention of the owner of LLC “UGT,” Ihor Zotko, it became known from the contents of his phone that Ihor Zotko, Marina Ilyina, and her husband, Dmytro Punin, planned an attempt on my life in April 2024.
Based on this information, my lawyers prepared an official appeal to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). After reviewing the appeal, on February 25, the SBI registered a criminal case under number 62025000000000217 under Article 345-1, Part 1 (“Threat of murder, violence, or destruction/damage to the property of a journalist, their close relatives, or family members in connection with their lawful professional activities”).
I will continue to update you on the next steps taken by my legal team and the progress of the investigation.
One intriguing discovery has already been made regarding the preparation of the attack.
In addition to the physical assault itself, Marina Ilyina suggested that the perpetrators torture me to extract information about my sources, my contacts in the gambling industry, and to identify potential beneficiaries of my work.
Ihor Zotko, on the other hand, had a different plan. His idea was to divert suspicion from the gambling industry and stage the attack as if it were carried out by the tobacco industry. To achieve this, Zotko proposed that after the assault, they scatter cigarettes over me.
Quite the spectacle, don’t you think?
I believe this information should not only have legal implications but must also reach financial institutions in Cyprus and Punin and Ilyina’s European business partners so they can fully understand what these people are capable of if someone crosses them and exposes the truth about Pin-UP.