Mykolaiv official follows journalists in speaking out about the access issues at the City Council

The Mykolaiv City Council. Photo by NikVesti

Mykolaiv City Council deputy Olena Kiselyova, head of the Commission on Transparency, Legality and Deputy Ethics, says that she has personally faced problems with access to the City Council building.

This issue was discussed at the Commission meeting on August 22, where the deputies reviewed the response by the City Council secretary, Dmytro Falk, to a query regarding the criminal proceedings that were opened after the Institute of Mass Information reported that journalists had not been allowed to enter the City Council building, reports the IMI representative in Mykolaiv oblast.

Earlier, the Mykolaiv City Council adopted new rules on journalists' access to the building. Now journalists could only enter the building upon invitation from officials. Reporters with the local news outlet "NikVesti" learned about the new access regulations after failing to enter the City Council to get comments from officials following an apparatus meeting.

According to deputy Olena Kiselyova, these restrictions apply not just to journalists, but also to members of the City Council, who face degrading procedures when visiting the City Council.

"Nowadays, it is not easy for a deputy to enter the Mykolayiv City Council building. I say this from my own experience. For me, this procedure is degrading, because a deputy has to explain to the guards where they are going, wait for another official to meet them, and only then can you enter. The staff of executive bodies enjoy much more rights, as they pass through the turnstiles without any problems," she said at the meeting.

Kiselyova added that she does not understand what is happening with the transparency and openness at the City Council, and proposed to secretary Dmytro Falk to simplify the procedure of obtaining deputy passes. Moreover, at her suggestion, the Commission asked the City Council's lawyers to find out whether the access regime should not have been approved during a Council session, seeing as it affects a lot of people.

For journalists, issues with access to the City Council began back in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, according to Andriy Volkov, the Executive Committee's head of affairs, the restrictions for visitors were being tested at the request by the SBU.

In May 2024, NikVesti journalists tried to enter the City Council building to get comments from officials after a staff meeting, but were not allowed in, allegedly due to the new access rules. According to these rules, mass media representatives would only be admitted into the building by one-time electronic passes issued by the Council's organization department, and they have to be escorted by media department staff.

On July 26, 2024, the police opened proceedings over "NikVesti" journalists being barred from entering the City Council building. The case is being investigated under Part 1 of Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Preclusion of the legal professional work of journalists".