Michał Hardī
Michał Hardī (1957-20 March 2013), often anglicized Michael Hardy was an Ashtalaian journalist and member of ATK's board of directors. He was assassinated by member of the First Capital Command using chokeholds on the night the channel was shut down by the government, before Gienęlys Ramkovski was detained under the foreign agent law.
Early life[edit | edit source]
Michał Hardī was born in 1957 in the village of Tulkai, located 200 kilometers south of the capital Vilvek. He was one of five children of the Hardī family. His family moved to Vilvek in 1959 after his father got a job in the press industry. This would determine Michał's fate.
Sports to journalism[edit | edit source]
ATK[edit | edit source]
In 1985, after his graduation from the Vilvek School of Journalism, he became one of the key figures behind the creation of ATK, the contender for a commercial television network in Ashtalaia that would break ART's monopoly.
Prison terms[edit | edit source]
Return to freedom[edit | edit source]
President of ATK[edit | edit source]
Passing of the role to Ramkovski[edit | edit source]
Foreign Agent law, shutdown of ATK and murder[edit | edit source]
Hardī was taken to a dark room with a TV set tuned to ATK in his final moments. After his pre-recorded farewell video was broadcast, the policemen asphyxiated Hardī to death.
Attempts at taking him to hospital failed and he was pronounced dead at 23:55, when a team of paramedics entered the room. The murder, coupled with the shutdown of the channel, constituted a heavy blow to freedom of speech in Ashtalaia, and would lead to the Ramkovskigate scandal within Operation Cobweb, where Ramkovski, acting president of the defunct network, was detained after leaking state secrets concerning the channel's license.
