Ukrainska Pravda senior investigator Mykhailo Tkach has been detained in Vienna, Austria, while carrying out an editorial assignment. The team considers the detention unlawful and demands his immediate release and an official explanation of the Austrian police’s actions, Ukrainska Pravda chief editor Sevgil Musaieva reported in a Facebook post.
She said Tkach was in Austria together with his colleague Yaroslav Bondarenko, whose whereabouts are currently unknown to the team.
“We demand that his location be identified without delay and that it be confirmed he is safe,” Musaieva said.
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The team has had no contact with Mykhailo Tkach, either. According to information available to the newsroom, the journalist was taken to a place of custody. A lawyer is in contact with him.
Musaieva said that the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria and the Embassy of Austria in Ukraine have already been informed of the situation. The team is calling on diplomats to help identify the whereabouts of both journalists, guarantee their safety, and secure Tkach’s release.
Moreover, Ukrainska Pravda is calling on the Austrian authorities to explain the grounds for the detention and to ensure Tkach has access to legal and consular assistance and is allowed to contact the newsroom and his loved ones.
The team has also appealed to international journalists’ and human rights organisations, asking them to support the reporters and help defend their rights.
Sevgil Musaieva stressed that Tkach and Bondarenko had travelled to Vienna to do their job.
“We expect urgent action by the Austrian authorities, transparent explanations, and respect for all of our colleagues’ rights,” the chief editor of Ukrainska Pravda stated.
On 27 February 2024, the Polish police detained Mykhailo Tkach and his cameraman near the Poland–Belarus border as the journalist was filming a report on the transit of goods between Poland and Russia, Belarus. Some of the footage was deleted by the Polish law enforcers. Later, Tkach released the investigation “Granica na miazhy. How Poland is stepping up trade with Russia through Belarus”.
According to Tkach, about 10 people searched their car, throwing their things out onto the hood; they took all the memory cards from their cameras, took all the phones and the documents. Tkach and the cameraman were kept in the commandant’s office for at least 4 hours and were only released after permission from “above”. All this time, journalists were not allowed to contact anyone. At the Polish commandant’s office, Ukrainian journalists were interrogated not only by the police, but also by special service officers.
After the incident, the journalists’ belongings were given back to them, but the police deleted some of the footage they had filmed.
The Polish later police told IMI that they did not confiscate the phones or other personal belongings from the Ukrainian Pravda journalists and took no procedural action against them. Mykhailo Tkach responded by saying that the police has cameras everywhere and that if they took the interest and watched the footage they would see whether the journalists’ things were taken or not, what was taken, and how.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency said that their employees had taken no procedural action regarding the Ukrainian Pravda journalists on the day of their detention, 27 February 2024.
