Reporters Without Borders condemns obstruction of Mykhailo Tkach’s work by Polish police

Collage: Ukrainska Pravda

The international organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the obstruction of the work of journalist Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko by the Polish police. 

Source: Reporters Without Borders on X (formerly Twitter)

Quote: “Two journalists from the Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda were detained for a few hours yesterday by the Polish police while reporting near the Belarusian border. Their equipment was searched and seized for a few hours. RSF condemns the obstruction of their work.”

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#Poland: two journalists from the 🇺🇦 media @UkrPravda_news were detained for a few hours yesterday by the 🇵🇱 police while reporting near the Belarusian border. Their equipment was searched and seized for a few hours. RSF condemns the obstruction of their work. pic.twitter.com/EkY6T8aLCu

— RSF (@RSF_inter) February 28, 2024

Background: 

• On 28 February, Polish law enforcement officers arrested an Ukrainska Pravda film crew consisting of Mykhailo Tkach, head of the investigative journalism department, and videographer Yaroslav Bondarenko, close to the Polish-Belarusian border as they were filming a story about the transit of goods between Poland, Russia and Belarus. Some of the footage was deleted by the Polish authorities.
• While our colleagues were being detained, the Polish police searched their car, removed the memory cards from their cameras, and took all their phones and documents. 
• The Podlaskie Voivodeship police posted a brief note on the evening of 27 February to say that they had not “detained a journalist from Ukraine”.
• Later, the police reported that officers had taken measures to identify some individuals whose presence in the border area had caused concern to local residents.

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