Police detain hromadske journalist who documented Stefanishyna using undeclared apartment
After hromadske journalist Maksym Kotsiubynskyi documented that Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna was using an apartment not listed in her asset declaration, he was taken to a police station.
This is reported by hromadske, Censor.NET informs.
It was reported that the incident occurred on July 1, several hours after the filming took place, while the journalist was attending to personal matters and waiting to meet a friend.
The journalist spent several hours at the police station before being released, with no detention report filed.
According to Kotsiubynskyi, a police officer initially approached him and asked to see his documents, citing a "citizen survey." Another officer soon joined and said he needed to conduct a "pat-down search." After the search, several more police officers approached the journalist.
"When I asked why this was happening under the pretext of a ‘citizen survey,’ the officers responded that someone had reported me for filming strategic sites, which I did not do," the journalist explained.
Kotsiubynskyi immediately showed his press ID and explained that earlier that day he had been documenting the movements of a public official. Nevertheless, he was asked to go to the police station at 12-B Prorizna Street, where he repeated his explanation.
"At the station, I was asked to provide written consent for a phone search. I refused and waited for my lawyer. In the absence of a criminal investigator, officers warned me that my phone could be confiscated for an extended period. When I asked whether that was a threat, they said it was merely an informational notice," he added.
Despite police claims that the journalist was not under arrest, patrol officers restricted his movement and remained with him at all times.
After his lawyer arrived, Kotsiubynskyi repeated his statement, and he was eventually released.
The lawyer emphasized that a journalist’s professional activity cannot be grounds for arrest, detention, or the seizure of materials they have collected, processed, or prepared, nor the technical equipment used in their work.
What did the patrol officers say?
According to the patrol officers, they received a report about a suspicious individual. However, they did not present hromadske journalist Maksym Kotsiubynskyi with any official report. The officers did not specify who made the report, what exactly the "suspicious behavior" entailed, or where it allegedly took place.
Hromadske stated that on the day of the incident, the journalist had not conducted any other filming apart from documenting the public official earlier that day.
Hromadske reporters also contacted Olha Stefanishyna’s team to ask whether the incident involving the journalist’s detainment could be related to his recording of her vehicle earlier that day. According to the outlet, the team said they did not call the police.
Reaction of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech
The incident with the detention of the journalist was commented on by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech.
"As Chair of the Committee on Freedom of Speech, I am closely monitoring the situation surrounding the unlawful detention of Maksym Kotsiubynskyi from hromadske.ua. I hope the National Police of Ukraine will provide an explanation for the actions of its officers and take measures to prevent further violations of media workers’ professional rights," People`s Deputy wrote.
As a reminder, Hromadske journalists recently published an investigation stating that Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna uses an apartment owned by her mother, Nadiia Kravets. At the same time, there is no mention of this apartment in the official's declaration.
The aforementioned journalist Maksym Kotsiubynskyi also took part in this investigation.
