Mykolaiv police closes case on journalists being barred from the City Council

The Mykolaiv police have closed the previously initiated proceedings on denial of access to the Mykolaiv City Council building to journalists, according to the response by Kyrylo Barashkovskyi, chief of investigations at the Mykolaiv oblast police, to an information query from Kateryna Sereda, the regional representative of the Institute of Mass Information.

In May 2024, journalists from MykVisty tried to enter the Mykolaiv City Council building to get comments from officials after a staff meeting. However, they were not allowed inside, allegedly due to new access regulations. According to these, mass media representatives can only enter the building with a one-time digital pass issued based on lists prepared by the City Council's organizational department, and only if they are escorted by employees of the media support department.

On July 26, 2024, following a news story by the Institute of Mass Information, the police opened a case on obstruction of reporting.

However, the Mykolaiv police found no corpus delicti and closed the case.

“On October 22, 2024, the proceedings were closed on the basis of Clause 2, Part 1, Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (lack of a corpus delicti. – Note). At present, the resolution on closing the proceedings in question has not been canceled,” the response to the query states.

It was previously reported that the Mykolaiv City Council plans to use artificial intelligence during their sessions, namely to automatize the process of reading draft decisions aloud.