In Druzhkivka, "Khalva" journalists complain about obstruction by official

On June 14 in Druzhkivka (Donetska oblast), the director of the manufacturing department of Torets water supply and drainage facility Oleksiy Dolbeshchenkov was forbidding the camera operator of the online media outlet “Khalva” Viktor Sotnikov to conduct video recording of his press conference. It was reported by the media outlet’s journalist Svitlana Agadzhanian, “Detector media” reports.

According to her, the press conference was taking place in Dolbeshchenkov's office located in the facility’s central office building. Dolbeshchenkov refused to conduct the press conference with the camera operator there, and only did it after he left. The camera operator worked alone because the media outlet works on a voluntary basis and cannot afford to pay salaries.

   However, the event was announced in advance as public. The reason why the official does not like the media outlet was because it covered the work of the facility before, in particular, the issues of water leakages and increase of tariffs for the water supply services.

   Dolbeshchenkov himself claims that he "did not forbid anything", and did not allow the camera operator of "Khalva" to stay because it was not an officially registered media outlet and the camera operator lacked the relevant documents certifying he was a journalist. The media outlet, however, claims that the camera operator did show his journalist ID.