Trial scheduled to begin for ex-journalist accused of defacing controversial Ukrainian monuments

The former journalist accused of spray painting two monuments to Ukrainians who collaborated with Nazi Germany is scheduled to begin his long awaited trial Monday, nearly four years after he was charged amid a public feud with the city’s police chief.

Duncan Kinney, a former journalist with the leftwing news site Progress Report, is charged with mischief for allegedly defacing memorials two memorials in the summer of 2021.

Jewish groups have previously called for the monuments to be removed. One is the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex’s bust of Roman Shukhevych, a Ukrainian nationalist figure who collaborated with the Nazis, which was spray painted with the words “Actual Nazi” in summer of 2021. The other is a memorial in St. Michael’s Cemetery that was defaced with the words “Nazi monument 14th Waffen SS.”

Kinney wrote about the vandalism for the Progress Report, but said he didn’t know who was responsible.

The trial was delayed for years while Kinney pursued pre-trial applications, including one that argued he was targeted as a critic of then-police chief Dale McFee, now Alberta’s top public servant. EPS revoked Kinney’s media access after McFee reacted negatively to his questions at several news conferences. 

Kinney was initially scheduled to face a jury trial, but defence counsel Tom Engel said the jury was dropped last week.

As of 2024, Kinney was retraining for a career in psychiatric nursing, Engel said.

Some Ukrainian groups have dismissed criticism of Shukhevych as misinformation used to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  

More to come. 

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