Defendants' relatives prevent Suspilne Zhytomyr journalists from entering court hearing

A journalist and camerawoman with Suspilne were prevented from entering a hearing in the Korolyovskyi District Court of Zhytomyr on December 18. The case concerns a group of men from Korostyshiv who are suspected of racketeering, Suspilne Zhytomyr chief editor Dmytro Klymenko reports to Oksana Trokoz, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Zhytomyr oblast.

He noted that there were no other journalists present besides Suspilne and the incident occurred before the start of the hearing: relatives of the defendants blocked the door, pushing the journalists away, shouting and declaring that they would not be entering until all the relatives are let in. Court security did not intervene in the situation, which forced the journalists to call the police. Only after the police arrived were the journalists finally allowed into the courtroom.

Defendants' relatives prevented Suspilne Zhytomyr journalists from entering the court hearing / Suspilne Zhytomyr

“There are eight defendants in the case, who were brought into the courtroom and then they started to let people in. There were many relatives. At a certain point, the court security told the relatives: 'Stop, the filming crew is entering now.' These were two people – journalist Kateryna Moroz and camerawoman Tetyana Ryvak. The relatives started saying: 'No, that won’t happen, they won’t be coming in, we will be coming in.' They started being aggressive towards the filming crew. Journalist Kateryna Moroz was grabbed by the arms, shaken, pushed against the wall; the journalists were being attacked. There were verbal threats, such as: 'Be grateful that you weren’t beaten.' The court security stood by at that time and made no attempt to protect the journalists. I see this as a problem,” said Dmytro Klymenko.

The journalist called the editorial office and the police. Editor Dmytro Klymenko also called the prosecutor's hotline and reported the violation of journalists' rights and obstruction of their legal professional work.

“The squad of operatives arrived, and the court security guards finally let our filming crew in. When I arrived at the court, the filming crew was already inside,” Dmytro said.

Later, the journalists filmed a news story about the high-profile hearing, recorded comments from all parties, and are now working on releasing the report.

“As soon as we finish the story, we will file a complaint with the police. Our first task was to report on the process, which we did. Fortunately, Kateryna and Tetyana have no physical injuries, but they are mentally distressed, as it was a significant moral pressure. Moreover, the case is high-profile, with serious charges. Therefore, the state of both the journalist's and the camerawoman's mental health remains difficult,” said Dmytro.

He noted that the moment of obstruction was captured on video and will be released later.

The court case

As reported by Suspilne Zhytomyr, the Korostyshiv racketeers case has been under investigation since August 2023, when a group of people suspected of extortion, kidnapping, and torture was detained in Zhytomyr oblast. One of the victims is a UAF serviceman. He was forced to pay 190 thousand hryvnias of a non-existing debt.

One of the defendants is a current deputy of the Korostyshiv City Council, who is suspected of involvement in an organized criminal group. On December 18, he was placed under 24-hour house arrest.

There have been repeated problems with mass media representatives being admitted to court hearings while his case has been trid. Similar situations were also recorded in July 2024, when journalists' access was restricted under various pretexts.