15:30 11.09.2009

Microphone throwing championship for MPs held near Ukrainian parliament

2 min read
Microphone throwing championship for MPs held near Ukrainian parliament

A microphone throwing championship among MPs, an event organized by the Kyiv independent media trade union, was held outside the building of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on Friday, September 11.

Around 50 journalists were meeting MPs at the entrance of the parliament and invited to throw a microphone at a target, an Interfax-Ukraine reporter said.

A journalist working for the STB television channel, Olha Chervakova, said that the event had been dedicated to a request by the channel's journalists to the prosecutor's office who asked the prosecutors to open a criminal case over an incident involving Communist Party MP Oleksandr Tkachenko and a camera crew of the STB channel under Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hindering the legal professional activities of journalists).

"This microphone throwing competition among deputies is dedicated to Tkachenko's well-known hurling of a microphone from the second floor in the parliament," Chervakova said.

Participating in the competition were Deputy Head of the Presidential Secretariat Ihor Popov, Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko MP Andriy Shkil, Regions Party MP Vladyslav Lukianov, and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense MP Yaroslav Kendzior.

However, some MPs criticized the event. Regions Party MP Oleksandr Kuzmuk refused to throw a microphone, saying that he had "no experience in this kind of sport" and made a remark to the journalists.

As reported, an incident involving Tkachenko and a camera crew of the STB channel was reported in the Ukrainian parliament on September 1. In response to a question posed by journalist Olha Chervakova, the MP hit her microphone, then snatched it from her and threw it downstairs, breaking it.

AD
AD
AD
AD
AD