Lawlor translator attacks ‘reckless’ media coverage

THE Ukrainian woman who accompanied Liam Lawlor on his fatal trip to Moscow broke her silence yesterday to castigate the media coverage as “reckless, vengeful and ill corroborated”.

Julia Kushnir, 29, a translator and trainee lawyer, said that since her return home to Prague after the crash, she has been under "the most rigorous, painful and searching scrutiny".

The single mother of one said it was "very difficult" to bear the burden of the being the sole survivor of the incident in which Mr Lawlor and businessman Ruslan Suliamanov died.

Ms Kushnir hired Irish solicitors last week and they issued a media statement on her behalf last evening. It's believed she intends suing a number of newspapers over coverage of the crash in which she was falsely described as a prostitute.

"In the days following the accident I thought that nothing could make what happened feel any worse, but I was wrong. I was shocked and disgusted by the stories that appeared in the press. They were reckless, vengeful and ill corroborated," she said.

"Since the initial publicity my friends, family and I have been plagued by the press.

"We have all have been subjected to the most rigorous, painful and searching scrutiny."

She said that despite media reports quoting her, she hasn't yet given a media interview on the crash.

She has been living and studying in Prague for 14 years and is due to qualify as a lawyer in January.

She said she first met Mr Lawlor three months ago through her work as a translator she speaks English, Czech and Russian.

Ruslan Suliamanov, the driver of the car, had known Mr Lawlor from earlier business dealings.

On the day of the accident, she was acting as a translator and intermediary for both men.

In her statement, Ms Kushnir said a man and woman ran out in front of the car.

"We swerved and I have no memory of what followed the crash. The only thing I remember was waking up in a disoriented state in the ambulance and learning that I was the sole survivor of the accident."

Ms Kushnir expressed her sympathy to the Lawlor family saying she was further saddened by what they had "to endure from the media at a time of great sadness and personal loss".