In Brovary, NGO leader impedes journalist trying to record video

On March 2, in the city of Brovary, Kyivska oblast, a journalist of the local media outlet “Mayesh pravo znaty” ("You have a right to know")  Andriy Kachor was impeded in his attempts to conduct video recording by the leader of NGO “Committee of Civil Self-Government of Kyiv Region” Tetiana Nemchyna at the meeting of NGOs. This was reported on the media outlet’s website.

The incident took place in the premises of the town culture center “Prometeus”, where the event “Coordination council of NGOs” was planned. As the media outlet reports, the event was formally organized by the advisor of the town mayor Iryna Nilova, head of the NGO “Committee for Civil Self-Government of Kyiv Region” Tetiana Nemchyna, and a former member of the town council, Avksentiy Hranat.

Right at the event, Tetiana Nemchyna was prohibiting the journalist to conduct video recording, saying that the event was closed for press. After the journalist introduced himself and warned that she was committing a criminal offence, she continued impeding his work, so the journalist called police and filed a complaint about a criminal offence (obstruction to journalist activities, up to 5 years of restraint).

In the end, the journalist managed to make it to the room where the event was held. The event was about supporting Larysa Vynohradova (former vice-mayor and former Party of Regions member) and Kostiantyn Kuznietsov (former executive manager of the executive committee of the town council and former KGB officer in the Soviet times) as pretenders for positions of vice-town mayor and executive manager, correspondingly.

In the comment for IMI, Andriy Kachor mentioned that Nemchyna also pushed him, trying to close the door to the room right in front of his nose.

Yet, the local Brovary police department refused to open a criminal case based on the complaint, taking the side of Nemchyna.

Kachor says that he does not really see any point in appealing about this decision, as local government, police and prosecutor's office are covering each other's back and will never allow someone of their circle to be arrested, especially if the case is related to political life.