Vasyl Klymentyev

Who is Vasyl Klymentyev?

Vasyl Petrovich Klymentyev was a Ukrainian investigative journalist and was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Novy Stil based in Kharkiv. He went missing in August 2010 and is presumed dead.

Klymentyev was known for his investigations of corruption in the Kharkiv area. He disappeared on 11 August 2010. On 15 August 2010 the police opened an investigation on the presumption that it was first degree murder. As of November 2011 this investigation was continuing.

His disappearance has been compared to that of Georgiy Gongadze, an internet journalist murdered in 2000 for investigating corruption. Media watchdogs have seen it as one of many signs of a deterioration in press freedom since the election of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2010.