Because of actions of local authorities, newspaper of Zaporizka oblast lost access to its bank accounts

The staff of the newspaper “Roz-Inform” of Rozivskyi rayon in Zaporizka oblast lost access to its bank accounts, and, accordingly, lost ability to issue the newspaper. This was reported by “Detector media” with reference to the press service of the National Association of Journalists. The conflict between the local rayon council and the editorial office of “Roz-inform” lasts for about a year already. At first the rayon council failed to adopt the decision to cease being the official founder within the timeframe established by the Law. The newspaper sued the council, but lost the trial. Still,  the newspaper “Roz-inform” made it to the list of mass media in the governmental decree of participants of the first stage of reform. In January, editor in chief of the newspaper “Roz-inform” Liudmyla Podrez was illegally fired and a new chief editor was assigned without consent of the rest of the staff. As the NAtional Association of Journalists of Ukraine reports, now the newspaper is under a financial blockade: the staff lost access to bank accounts, and, also, lost ability to print the newspaper. Although the court judged dismissal of the chief editor illegal, the judgment on restoring her in the office and compensating her salary is still not there. As Liudmyla Podrez said, the chief editor assigned by the local self-government forged the seal and received access to the bank accounts of the newspaper. Police does not intervene, in spite of three official complaints. Now the staff is out of resources for publishing their newspaper.