KIEV, Dec. 25 - Two alleged assailants of journalist and activist Tetiana Chornovol were detained by police on Wednesday after opposition lawmakers recovered and released a car video that recorded the ferocious attack late Tuesday.

A third alleged attacker is currently at large, but police released his name as Serhiy Kotenko, a Kiev resident born in 1984.

The video was shot by a small recording device that Chornovol’s father had recently mounted in the car amid fears that his daughter may come under attack for her investigative reports.

Chornovol, an activist of the ongoing anti-government protest, repeatedly reported on alleged corruption involving the family of President Viktor Yanukovych and also his closest allies.

Hours before the attack, Chornovol took pictures of lavish homes and properties of Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka. Both are the closest allies of Yanukovych.

She featured Zakharchenko’s home in her blog posted just hours before the attack. Pshonka’s property pictures have not been released. Chornovol is currently undergoing treatment at an intensive care unit in a hospital.

The attack, the latest in series of assassination attempts against key protest activists throughout Ukraine , triggered an outcry from many who had demanded resignation of Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko.

Dmytro Pylypytsia was stabbed 12 times in Kharkiv on Tuesday, while Volodymyr Maralov was shot in the chest in Kiev on Sunday. Both recover in hospitals.

At least one activist, Pavlo Mazurenko, died on December 22 from inflicted wounds caused by brutal police beating on December 18.

The protesters said Zakharchenko may have initially tried to cover up the attack on Chornovol because data show that the car, Porsche Cayenne, is owned by an active member of the ruling Regions Party.

“It takes 2 minutes to track down the owner of the car by license plates, and another 2 minutes to verify who he is and what he does,” Ihor Lutsenko, a protest activist, said. “That’s why Zakharchenko had been lying when he told lawmakers earlier today that he knows nothing about the assailants.”

“In other words, [Zakharchenko] demonstrated his intention to cover up the ends, because the [attackers’] car belongs to a person who is involved with the Regions Party,” Lutsenko said.

Police found the assailants’ car in Brovary late Wednesday.

The protesters will come to picket the Interior Ministry, but will later march to picket Zakharchenko’s home outside Kiev .

"The public has to keep control of the investigation of this cynical crime when a tender girl has been brutally beaten by three thugs,” Maidan, a civic body that coordinates the anti-government protest, said Wednesday.

Kotenko, whose Facebook page indicates he has been spending much of his time in the U.S., may have been earlier involved in a raider attack on TVi, an independent television station that had changed ownership earlier this year under pressure from the authorities, Channel 5 reported Wednesday, citing journalist Denis Bihus.

Pshonka held a special meeting with senior prosecutors on Wednesday and pledged a quick investigation of the Chornovol case.

“It is extremely important in terms of maximum openness to investigate the case,” Pshonka said. “The investigation will carefully examine all possible versions of the crime.” (tl/ez)