Police closes case on "Konkurent TV" journalists being barred from filming near a mall

The police closed the case on preclusion faced by "Konkurent TV" journalists on the part of "Port City" shopping mall security, which occurred on May 21, 2023 in Lutsk.

The case was closed on the basis of Clause 2, Part 1, Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (lack of a corpus delicti), according to the replies by Volyn Oblast Prosecutor's Office and the Lutsk district police department to the requests from the IMI representative.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the case was opened on May 25, 2023, following a complaint regarding preclusion of professional journalistic work. On December 28, 2023, the investigator from the Lutsk district department of the Volyn Oblast National Police issued a resolution to close the case.

As reported, on May 21, 2023, security guards at the PortCity mall (Lutsk) barred "Konkurent TV" journalists from filming the national cycling campaign "Veloden". The guards said that the reasons for the prohibition was that the mall was "private property" and that the journalists had no permit from the mall's administration.

Cameraman Oleksandr Fetysov was told to turn off his camera and "leave the private property" together with journalist Olha Wozniak. In turn, the journalists stressed that the event was public, not private, as it had been announced by the Lutsk City Council in advance.

After the incident, the police opened a case under Part 2 of Art. 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (preclusion of professional journalistic work).

On November 16, 2023, the Cherkasy Oblast National Police HQ closed the case regarding the preclusion faced by the journalist Maksym Tkachenko, who works for the regional media outlet "18000", as they saw no corpus delicti in the incident. On June 29, 2023, parishioners of the Holy Candlemas church of the UOC MP attacked Maksym Tkachenko, a videoreporter for the media outlet 18000, and damaged his equipment.

On December 5, 2023, the Sumy Oblast Police closed a case over death threats to the local media outlet "CUKR" due to a lack of a corpus delicti, but the District Prosecutor's Office of Sumy city resumed the investigation. In the summer of 2023, unknown persons were threatening to destroy the office of the Sumy media outlet "CUKR" following their material about the life of the local LGBTQ+ community and later called for the journalists' murder, posting a "hit list" with the names of the editorial team. The Sumy Oblast Police opened a case over these death threats in response to a statement filed by "CUKR" journalists (under Part 1 Article 345-1 of the CCU).