Court orders police to look into Dnipro City Council denying access to Dnipro.media journalists

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Dnipro city found the police guilty of negligence for refusing to enter the statement on obstruction of reporting (namely denial of access to the City Council session hall), filed by Dnipro.media journalist Maria Onyshchenko, into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPI). The court ordered the police to open an investigation, Dnipro.media chief editor Nika Yehorova reported to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

The court ruled that the police had no right to judge if the incident had a corpus delicti before the start of the investigation. According to Article 214 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, an investigator or prosecutor has to enter the data into the URPI no later than 24 hours after receiving the statement, and then carry out examinations.

The disputed incident occurred on 10 December 2025, when journalists with Dnipro.media were not allowed to attend the plenary session No. 73 in the Dnipro City Council’s session hall. Journalist Maria Onyshchenko later called the police and filed a statement on obstruction of reporting.

The statement was accepted, but a month later the journalist received a reply saying that the police had found no corpus delicti in the incident, and thus had not entered the data into the URPI.

The news outlet then complained to the oblast prosecutor’s office and the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Dnipro regarding the investigator’s inaction and their obligation to enter the data into the Register.

Nika Yehorova says that the City Council’s attempts to limit journalists’ access to their work have been systematic.

“For me, this story is about being allowed to simply do my job. The right of journalists to attend City Council sessions and report on work of local government is guaranteed by Ukraine’s law. With no additional permits or selective approach. But we are facing arbitrary access restrictions. Municipal media outlets are allowed in the session hall while others are not. People who are not officials can enter the hall, but journalists are not let in or sent to sit on the balcony, although the regulations say they have a right to be present in the session hall. For me, this signals that the city may be disregarding the rights of journalists. That they may be trying to make it so that such violations go unnoticed,” Nika Yehorova said.

After the court ruling, Dnipro.media journalists are determined to prove the City Council staff’s actions were unlawful.

“After the court ruling is enforced, we want to receive the criminal law case number from the URPI. We also plan to file a motion to attach evidence, including footage of us being denied access, reports in the media, material from international organisations, and eyewitness accounts,” added Dnipro.media chief editor.