Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters killed in Baghdad by U.S. tank fire (04/13/03)

Ukrainian cameraman for Reuters killed in Baghdad by U.S. tank fire

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Taras Protsyuk, a cameraman for the Reuters news agency and one of the few internationally respected Ukrainian journalists, died in Baghdad on April 8 when a U.S. tank fired on the 15th floor of the hotel from which the cameraman was filming the events taking place on the street below.

Mr. Protsyuk, 35, a happy-go-lucky personality who, according to his colleagues, was always quick with a smile and a comment, perished after a 120 mm round fired from a U.S. M1A1 Abrams tank that was patrolling the area hit the Reuters office in the Palestine Hotel. The hotel was the base for a majority of international journalists covering the conflict in the Iraqi capital city.

José Cuoso of Telecinco Spanish Television also died as a result of the shell attack on the hotel. Four other foreign journalists were injured, none seriously. Mr. Protsyuk was the 12th journalist to die in the three-week conflict being waged by an international coalition led by the United States and Great Britain in Iraq against the regime of President Saddam Hussein.

A U.S. military spokesperson for the Central Command in Qatar said that while the U.S. regretted any casualties, it could not guarantee the safety of journalists because Baghdad was a war zone. In the first days of the conflict, U.S. military officials had warned international journalists to leave Baghdad.

The U.S. official also maintained that the tank had been fired upon first, but journalists who watched the events unfold said they did not remember hearing shots until the tank opened fire and that in aiming its 120 mm cannon the armored vehicle seemed to know exactly what its intended target was.

One French reporter accused the tank commander of retribution against journalists who were reporting negative news on the U.S. advance into Iraq and Baghdad. Carolina Cinz told Euronews that she believed the tank had not erred.

"This shot was intentional," claimed an excited Ms. Cinz speaking before cameras. "The Americans shot right at the hotel. It was all recorded on tape."

Reporters Without Borders called the act "a war crime," while the International Media Association demanded a full investigation, as did the Spanish government.

Mr. Protsyuk was not a novice to battle zones. He had his first experience with war in Chechnya in 1993. Since then he had covered conflicts in Kosovo and Afghanistan, before this last, fatal assignment.

Reuters' Kyiv Bureau originally hired Mr. Protsyuk in 1991. Since 1999 he had worked out of its Warsaw Bureau. London-based Editor-in-Chief Geert Linnebank called the death of Mr. Protsyuk "so unnecessary" and said that the international news agency is devastated by the loss.

Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed condolences as well, while Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada offered a moment of silence before the beginning of its April 9 session in memory of both Mr. Protsyuk and Ukrainian journalist Oleksander Kryvenko. Mr. Kryvenko, another noted Ukrainian journalist, had died in a car accident earlier that morning. (See story on page 4.)

Stanislav Stashevskyi, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs Relations, said he would turn to Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry to demand that it obtain an official explanation on the death of Mr. Protsyuk.

Mr. Protsyuk is survived by his wife, Lydia, and 8-year-old son Denys. Burial was slated for Kyiv's historic Baikove Cemetery on April 12. Final viewing was scheduled to take place at the Teachers Building in Kyiv, where government representatives were expected to be present.

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